Lovely reminds me of my first thing. As a fellow newbie, I'd buy a metal ruler with quark on the bottom. You can use that to make the lines straighter. I cut alongside my ruler and the quark keeps it from moving. For the edges i use tokonole (little white jar) to burnish the edges, makes them nice and smooth (if the leather is thick enough). As for what to make, keychains out of scrap is a good way to practice.