Others might benefit from this, Kim, so I'll post it here rather than in a PM. At least when I was still doing leathercraft actively, most any reasonably-sized city had a Tandy Leather store--haven't really noticed if they're still around. But Tandy or otherwise, any decent craft or leathercraft store should have a "starter kit" for doing basic leather carving, which typically should include: A swivel knife, and something for sharpening it; a board for tooling and hammering upon; a wooden mallet for striking the rest of the tools; a bevel tool; a background tool; a veiner tool; a seeder tool; a camouflage tool; a pear shader tool; needles and lacing.

You can do a great deal of basic carving with just those tools. There are dozens of kinds of each of those tools for specialized purposes, and more kinds of tools, too, but those can come later. Those will get you started. Buying several practice rounds is a good idea too. Many starter kits come with some basic projects included, prepunched, but on some of them the leather is kinda chincey. Tandy has starter kits for $35 and $90. See here. Ultimately, you'll want a good hole punch too, and a stamp for fastening snaps, and a good edging tool, and....

In other words, welcome to leathercraft addiction, Kim. :-)

Chris