How to use Arduino Pro Mini without Programmer
You might be on the wrong track.

You do need a crystal (or not, it depends on), and an Atmel programmer if you want to program an empty chip.

However, all Arduino boards come with a chip pre-programmed with a bootloader.
Then it is rather easy: you need an FTDI cable to connect the board to a PC. Then run Arduino IDE on the PC. (The FTDI cable is actually an USB-to-serial converter.)

The Arduino IDE lets you edit a C like code, complile it to binary, and send it out via the FTDI cable to the serial port (Rx, Tx) of the board. The microcontroller on the board comes with a bootloader. Bootloader is a small program which runs at power up, and will receive the data from the computer and put your program to the microcontroller. Then your program will run on the microcontroller.

So, you don't need an external programmer.



On the other hand, you may consider picking a different Arduino board. Arduino Micro, or Pololu A-star Micro (for half of the price of the Arduino Micro) offers a board with a direct USB connection. All you need is one USB cable.

These boards come with a much better microcontroller (32u4) which has a hardware USB connection (allowing you to make a mouse or a keyboard, and control PC (such as buttonbass.com) from your gadget).