Homespun E17 | Rena Dearden

hi everyone welcome to Homespun where creativity and Community come together I am your host Misty Don and today I'm joined by Raina deeran the owner and designer of The Rustic horseshoe Raina designs the most adorable stuffed animals and ride on toys and she shares her journey from law enforcement to taking the leap into her own creative business Reena thank you so much for joining me today I really really appreciate it would you mind telling everyone a little bit about your business and what you do I thanks for having me and the rest of course she's my business and as you said that I'm re and I design and write sewing patterns for stuffed animals and write on toys like sick horses and and other animals in that I love that so much and if you guys have not seen reena's patterns you need to be sure to check them out of course you can see some of them behind you now which are so cute but they are just absolutely darling so I really appreciate you joining us today and sharing a little bit about how you started your business and how you got to where you are today so again thank you for taking the time to chat with me I know people will love to hear your Insight and I really appreciate it so well thank you I appreciate you of course of course so to begin can you just share a little bit about how you got into the world of crafting and sewing it's a kind of an interesting story um well first of all going back I've always loved crafting um I never thought I needed to learn how to sew my grandmother um seed beautiful quilts my mom would sew um I remember she made me a doll for Christmas and she made me Halloween costumes and stuff like that and some dresses but I just never thought I had any need for sewing and um but I love to draw and I love to make things in craft and then I ended up getting into a law enforcement career and so I was a police officer uh for a while and then I had intended to stay in that for until I retired from it and working mom that was my goal yeah after I yeah after I had my daughter it changed I didn't want to leave her with somebody else all day and in the career of law enforcement sure things can happen to you at any given time in life but when you're working with your hand in the fire there's a little more risk so there are several aspects to it and at that point um I decided I needed to shift and but it wasn't until two years later after I had my son that I decided to take the jump and because I knew financially it was going to be extremely difficult and it was but we made it through but I made the jump I left law enforcement and I just so after my daughter was born so backtrack to two years before that I decided I just was racking my brain what could I do from home that I could make money that I could help support my family um because my husband has a job too but it would took both of our incomes to make things for absolutely um yeah and and so I went to my crafting side I'm like what can I do and then I looked at my childhood stick course that I still have that um actually I like show and tell because when people talk about things I want to see it so this is my childhood craft stick horse oh my goodness you can tell it was loved yes and my mom patched it where the stick came through she patched it where the chin came open she made this Bridal for it so there's her sewing or you know some of her sewing skills in this and which is why it's also very special to me yeah so I looked at that and I said to myself I'm like I could do that I could take my drawing skills and I could make a pattern for that and I wanted to go the pattern route but of course with pattern lines until you get several patterns they're not going to bring in the money you need them to so you I was making physical product to sell so it started with that and then by the time my son was born things were kicked off enough that I felt I could fill the gaps a little bit financially and but it was still very much a leap and so that's how I got into it and um it was funny because I thought I was never going to be one to se I remember at the police department my police Commander she was wearing this really nice jacket and I complimented her on her jacket one day and she says well thank you I made that and I'm like you're like this you're like this badass woman and you sewed that jacket and I was just like it struck me and I was and then when I was in the police academy this is of course again prior kids there was another woman who um she had hair down to her rear end and she you know she was on the SWAT team which I thought was funny because I had long hair at the time too because I was going to get married just a couple months after the police academy and um they were telling me I was G to have to cut my hair and I said Not until after the wedding so that was another thing looking at that but then we had to sew what they call our guide on flag which is our class flag and somebody put us the hint that this woman who was on the SWAT team sewed and I'm like maybe I have the wrong impression of sewing and I don't know why I have this impression of sewing so it kind of bump me to thinking differently about it approaching it I I love that thank you yeah I mean it's it's so easy to like put it in in a box whether it's sewing or quilting or crafting in general and to say it has to look like X Y and Z so to then be exposed to it repeatedly in a situation where you probably didn't expect it is pretty cool yeah I think so too because we have our stereotypes and frankly stereotypes are awful um they they narrow our way of thinking and I had a stereotype of what that was and these two women one of which is um the police Commander she's still a very good friend and um it's funny she sells garments not stuffed animals and she has a new grandson and I've always gone to her for help with garments because they intimidate me and she actually came to me for help and I was like yes it's come in Full Circle I love that we we all have our place right we do we do and so the very first I do have the very first divorse I made oh my gosh it's I kept it because well it sucked but um but I also wanted to keep it to remind myself how far I've come well I was going to say it's such a great way to honor your journey right when you can look back and see that it is it is and for the ones who bought my early stick horses I am so appreciative because they're the ones that helped keep me going that this could work and yeah of that you know you keep improving so this is my first stick course that I made oh it's so cute and it has I had google eyes on it because I didn't even really know about this where to find the safety eyes I searched and searched finally I found them but um and it's Denim and Twine for the I love it so that's my first stick horse and it's a it's a nice reminder I I keep that here and then this is what it ended up being oh my gosh this is this is my husband's Marine Corp one of his Marine Corp uniforms but I love that kind of see how it has yeah that's just one example of how your journey has evolved right from point A to point B I love that so much so was there a moment you know you had made this big leap from you know a career in law enforcement to wanting to be home with your children and and using these creative talents that you knew that you had was there a moment where you're like this is going to work there was a lot of moments to remind myself that this will work because it needs to work it has to work it's my best option um and there were a lot of moments of what am I doing this you know we're we're struggling um but kept just moving forward and basically telling myself this is going to work had faith that it was going to work and um is absolutely blessed that it has filled the gaps and it's continued to grow and it is yeah it's still on that path of improving but way further than I was when I first started and if I would have just given up because of the the concern the worry the financial stress I don't know where what I'd be doing now or what but it wouldn't be this I love that well it's such a good reminder that like so often the difference between success and failure just lies in that ability to persevere right to just continue through the hard things and and when we doubt ourselves like am I on the right path is this the right choice have I completely lost my mind um but being able to like come back to that place where you're like no this this is the best option I've got I I believe in it and I can continue on is that I mean is that kind of what you're saying that's what I'm getting from what you've shared yes absolutely and I remember that when I first made this decision my dad's like you know you need to because we had just invested in a a business for my husband to run which was a a tool truck business the timing ended up being really bad with all that for it working um but that was also part of my LEAP of okay we've got this business we've got this potential for this income and he's like you know why don't you wait five or six years and then see how it's running and I'm like but then I miss the most crucial part that I for yeah well and I think that's um such an important reminder for everyone that there's not a clear path and an exact right way to do it you know when we started Missouri Star we started it literally in one of the worst economic recessions that the country has seen in a long time everyone literally everyone thought we would fail I can remember our UPS driver being like you know picking up packages and and years down the road he came back and was like I really didn't think there was any chance you could make it and so to see the opportunity for growth in spite of obstacles being stacked against you um truly I mean you've got a new baby and a husband starting a new business and you've taken this huge shift from what was your career to now building this new business of your own and like all of those things can feel really heavy and scary and so for someone who is maybe facing that same I guess pivotal moment that same opportunity to make that choice do you have words of En encouragement for them or um a reminder maybe of how you made it through just I mean obviously if finances absolutely aren't working then you have to Pivot and shift yeah so you have to be flexible and open but just really really focus on your goal and if you can make it work stick through the tough times and see it through and then see what it can become yeah I I love that well and so often we are initially Limited in what we see that potential to be right and so when you especially when you're experiencing those hard times I think it can be difficult to say but this could be amazing right like yes right now you know using your business as an example I'm designing a stick horse but now here you are all these years later and you have so many patterns all these wonderful you know stuffed animals that you've designed and like what an incredible leap from where you began with that adorable stick horse that you first shared with us and now this incredible collection that you have just a smattering of behind you and I'm sure you must be really proud to be able to look at that and to look at you know here's day one and here's where I am now and that's just such a reminder of why that hard work and that struggle is worth it I would say so congratulations to you for what you've done that's really incredible thank you oh you're welcome you're welcome and so back to your designs because obviously you you had an artistic neck you said you like to draw so so how do you how do you do your designs how does what does that look like um it looks like a really messy process mess messy in the sense like I don't know that I could ever really even teach it because you know there's some people that teach how to pattern things and I don't use the computer it's all by pencil and paper and what I do is I start with the profile of the animal um um the face and that's what I start with is uh focusing on the head and the face because I think that's so important because the bodies like in some of these animals they all like the cow has the same body as the horse just different gles but it's all in the face and you but um so I start with the the profile and then I kind of look at it 3D and figure out the the gusset and then it's just a matter of putting that into Fabric and some of them when I sew them I'll sew up just the head and so I I'll have head sitting around which but um I'll sew it up and it'll look really wonky and usually the first one is never spoton and then I'll take a sharpie and I mark on it where I want to adjust the fabric and then I go back to paper and so it's a back and forth uh usually I would say a minimum of about three times back and forth before I get it before I want it and sometimes it takes me about eight or nine times before it's where I want it and it could just you're really refining it right yeah that makes sense and so so yeah you're you're just sketching it out I think that's so cool I mean to just be able to take this idea from your head and especially when you're making something that resembles another living thing right to be able to take this idea and then you know put it down on paper pair that with some fabric and then have this kind of testing process is pretty impressive um so really really cool is there the other thing that just came to mind I guess is thinking about how you have this connection in your business to something that was really important to you as a child and so was how did that idea kind of come to you like was it just as simple as that like you loved this as a child and you thought maybe your kiddos would too yep it was much as simple of that of just trying to think at the time for example when I started selling is on Etsy there was only one other person selling SES on um so I had thought that it was kind of this dying Toy this toy that inspires creative play and active play because they're running around using it yeah and something I loved as a child and you were just seeing less and less of it and you were seeing some of them you know the commercially made ones I thought were not very good U you know just there was so much more that I thought could be done with it and I know that from having my grandmother so and my mom so that the things they made were always extra special to me so combining those two things and taking a childhood toy that I absolutely love one that inspires active and creative play and then also the aspect of something handmade and I just thought it was a great combination and to go with it and see how it do well I think you were spoton I mean there like you said there's a magic there in between that that like you said active imagination that is the like the Pinnacle of childhood right that's that's what it's all about is to be able to just play and and have kiddos use their imagination and imagine a world that is vast and beautiful and kind and fun and all the things that are are what childhood is all about and you're exactly right there's something so like inherently special that even can be conveyed to a child when they know someone took the time to to make this gift for them I can remember as a young girl you know I had some little dollies that my grandma made for me and I still have them because they were so special they're the only toys that I still have from when I was young um but it's the same thing thing when you know that you know Grandma or Mom or whoever took the time to make this just for you and it's you're the one who who gets to have it what an incredible gift to give a child and I love that you took that thing that was so special to you and have now shared that with you know the Next Generation and so people can continue to use this skill that you've developed the patterns that you've made and you're you're sharing it with the world so they can continue to put that out there what a great thing so thank you you bet so is there like because for me I S A lot of things but even looking at one of your animals or your stick horses I'm like I don't know if I could do that so is there some words of encouragement um for you know people like me who are a little intimidated I would say just dive in um I also Al like to look at my background I was making these when I had like I was a novice SE um and the way that I write my tutorials is B- siiz steps and I like the the saying how it goes you know how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time one at Best scar but you know what what we get there and um it's just one step at a time if you trust the process follow it step by step there's really no complicated sewing in the based of all these patterns there are some Advanced options if you wanted to try something a little more difficult to step it up a little bit but almost all the patterns have options and they have a confident Advanced beginner option at the least and if you just take it step by step by the time you're done you've got something you can be proud of you made it through and you made a 3D something I love that that's really cool well I have some little nieces and nephews who I think would absolutely love one of these so I might have to try my hand and see if I can can make one happen but um so let's just uh switch gears a little bit here so back to you starting the business and you've got little ones at home was that a struggle to be a working stay-at-home mom and finding that balance uh absolutely I can remember on more than one occasion I wanted to put the gamond badge back on and leave the house m um it was very challenging at the motherhood part of it and don't get me wrong of course I loved it sure but balancing uh and because I was making products to sell and trying to meet deadlines I remember that oftentimes I was an 8we processing timeout because I at least had enough orders but I couldn't get through them faster than that um and it was very stressful and I was always working on deadlines always juggling everything and while now I'm still juggling things with teenagers it's different of course because they're teenagers but also I'm still very busy but it's a different busy and with the patterns I'm not tied to specific deadlines if I need to get the kids to invent or now I have to take them to doctor's appointments or whatever it might be I'm not stressing that I have an order that's supposed to Shi in two days and it's not finished yeah that makes sense so you've been able to Pivot that and and have it fit into your lifestyle a little bit better which is so nice is there something that uh maybe like fills your bucket creatively that's not just the design side is there something where if you're feeling really stressed and overwhelmed you go to to just kind of fill you back up chocolate oh I love that we all love a little chocolate now and then absolutely absolutely that's that's great no go ahead um you know I love to do things I want to try different things um for example a friend and I this weekend are going to go to like the board and brush and do one of those so it's time with a friend but also doing something artistic yeah sh is with stencils but it's still fun with feet but I also find that in this stage in my life with all the different things I'm juggling that I don't get a lot of time for me for things that I want to try outside of what my business is and outside of um kids because I have both kids involved in Vol to work and I Vol with them and course different activities I home school so that adds to it that's not how it originally started but that's where we're at now hey I can totally relate to that I'm I have the same path that's not how we started but that's where we are so yeah and so I just figure it's the season I'm in and I mean I love horseback writing that has always been my saddle time is my therapy but my horse is now 32 years old and so he you know I could take him for walks but I don't ride him anymore he's AR that retirement he's in really good shape but yeah he so that's kind of Gone by the wayside [Music] and so I'm just looking at having to and also the current cost of taking care horses if bu to get a new one when he's gone whatever is really a lot higher than it was 10 years ago or so and so when he's gone or even is here I can still shift my daughter and my husband have gotten into mountain biking and they keep pushing me and I might take that and try a different saddle time in the mountain bike but there you go the horse saddle time's always been in my heart and it's my I love that well and again you know that goes back to probably if you've always had a love of horses no wonder you loved that toy so much as a little girl you know how how special and for that to to carry through your life to this point is just a really incredible like one self-awareness in yourself to just know how special that it was to you and to then just be able to carry that through it it's really quite impressive and so uh I I admire you for that for just for just being able to identify something that you love because I know as women for myself especially often times it can feel like our hobbies are not worthy or important enough of our time it's so easy to fill our hours and have our day full of all the other things that are on our list and so even if it is you know spending a little bit of time walking your your good horse who has earned his retirement um that it's it's worth it you know and to be able to to make the time for any of us who have things that we are passionate about and that we care deeply about um it's always better on on the flip side you know I I know for me just going on walks I absolutely love to be out in nature and hear the birds and feel the breeze blowing in my hair um and I always drag my feet and I don't know why um just about making that time and then once I get out there and spend WEA even if it's 10 20 30 minutes I'm like oh I'm so glad I did that you know um and so it's just a reminder to all of us to to take the time to to fill our buckets back up so that we can keep putting goodness out into the world for sure exactly yeah I I love that speaking of my horse this is I made a little book for him oh ago my gosh cute I um part one of my assignments at the PD was Mount of Patrol it's a small department so it wasn't a full-time assignment but we did it for special events and things and and he's my unicorn horse I will never ever find another horse like him so I did this little this is where my drawing came in these I love that oh my gosh that is so special so that's that's an oldie I did that way before um shortly after I got married so long before the kids came along wow that's an example of how I started with drawing yeah that's that's amazing um so are there any other creative Hobbies specifically um you love to draw you you now so you write patterns are there other creative hobbies that you'd like to get into well I'm usually down for anything like I'll try it and give it a whirl and see what it's like I want to um there's a place down in Phoenix about an hour and a half drive from here that you can go in and it's not like time to sign up for a bunch of classes but you can just throw Clay on the wheel and just play with it and and I I've wanted to learn how to do that that would be really fun yeah I used to have and this was just I don't even know where my parents found it but when I was a young girl we had a play pottery wheel that actually worked like you could you could you know use the pedal and and turn the pottery and I can remember sitting in my my parents garage thinking that I was making the most magnificent pots you know no to man and my parents have a few of them and they're the most little like wonky things but I have not thrown Pottery since I was young in my parents uh garage so that is up there on my list of things that I would like to do again because I do remember really loving it but um one thing that we do just to kind of fill our buckets all the time and to and to to remind us that learning is a good thing is that we try at least once a quarter to do like something that's completely out of the normal sewing quilting design element of our our jobs here whether it's you know bead making or glass blowing or embroidery or whatever it is we just try and um create in a different way and that has been a great um a great Challenge and a great way to just remember to play because so much of the craft the Craft World The Sewing world we can get really caught up in like the little minutia and the details and really it's it should be fun and so if we're not having fun then we're missing something and I think that like what better way to remind you to have fun than to be working on you know stuffed animals and and toys for kiddos because that's really the goal in the long run is that they can enjoy it right absolutely and when watching them come together I you know I how can you not playe with it like when it starts to come together and after I first put the Eyes in I'm like it's turning into something and still especially with the new design I'm like I was looking how I want it to but how it's coming to life and then when I stuff the head I'm like there it is and it just framing it joy and excitement in it and then um just you know feel like little puppets like here it is so I have to this is a very kind of odd question and so forgive me but Jenny often shares this story of when she first taught her girls to sew they made those do you remember those giant like floppy rabbits that were everywhere in the late ' 80s early 9s and you like dress them in different costumes she taught them to make those and she she tells the story about how Sarah was like okay Mom I'm really glad I learned this I never want to do this again Natalie was like oh I you know this is cool I did this was great and then Hillary was like let's you know reattach the head 14 different ways just to see if we can give it a different expression and I wonder when you're making yours do you ever have that where it's like well what if the eye was like this or what if I gave it a little smirk do you do you get to play with it yeah I do and it's it's fun because just the um just the eyelids when you're you're playing with them you can put them here and then you can turn them and it really just that alone changes the expression and it's so fun to just see how things shift and and yeah it's fun to do that for sure I love that I mean and that alone is just such a a a creative part of it right like to to be able to give so much personality to what you're making is really really fun and special absolutely that's part of what so special Ah that's so fun well so let's let's Circle back tell everyone again where they can find you what they will find on your website and um and if they want to follow along with what you're up to uh where where to look for you okay um you can find me on social media Facebook and Instagram I've got a group on Facebook and it's a wonderful group everybody in there is so supportive um I love these people I'm going to say ladies there's a couple guys but it's predominantly ladies but these people in the group are just so supportive and share their makes encourage other people so I highly recommend joining the group just to see what everybody's making if nothing else um but you'll also see what I'm up to um I have a website rest of.com you can sign up for my newsletter I only send an email out on Fridays I put a pattern on sale every Friday but it's also where I announce what I'm working on um what's coming up where I put out call for testers for my patterns so there's that aspect I do have a shop on Etsy I know some people are more comfortable shopping on the third party platform and so I have a shop on Etsy yeah so Etsy rest ofor you.com and my social media awesome and so are you are you rustic horseshoe on your social media as well yes okay perfect well so are there any final words of encouragement that you would like to leave uh with our our listeners and to encourage them to to maybe take that next leap into their own creative Journeys yeah I would say um don't get into your own head like don't let it overwhelm you take it step by step dive in and you're going to be amazed at what you can make it's deceptively easy and but it's easy to look at you know something like a stuffed animal and think I just can't make that I can't think in that way and it's how I look at clothes I look at clothes and I'm like you know and I've made some and a lot with a lot of help from my friend who would help me with the garments but so I get when we sew different things that something can look intimidating that's outside of our wheelhouse but what I have to say is just dive in give it a shot you can start with something that's a little more easier pattern um or like like I said in mine I have options so stick with the basic options get that down and then maybe make another one where you're adding a little bit more you know one layer of of creativity to it but also stepping it up to maybe an immediate level or whatever to do that but even that I'm confident that if you just take it step by step focus on what you're doing trust the process that you'll be able to make anything that you come across I love that thank you so much Reena thanks for sharing a little bit about your story and what you do with me I really appreciate you being here and everybody be sure to check out at The Rustic horseshoe and see what she's up to and I will see you next time thank you so much for being here