Deerly Beloved Movement

As some of you know, I recently started a shop on Instagram. I really struggled with whether or not I should even open it. Main reason, my family means the world to me, and I have a huge issue with putting something in my life that could eventually cost me the relationships I have with them. For example, if I spend too much time creating and making things, that I stop giving my kids the quality time they need or stop listening to my husband's needs, my children and marriage will suffer. I refuse to let that happen.

I have come to realize that by our life circumstances, many of us will be in similar situations. So, what can we do? We break our backs to provide for our families, but at what cost? My answer, create family time and the cost will be minimal.

I know all family types are different, but to me, it doesn't matter what your family type is. I encourage my couples to strengthen their relationships with dedicating quality time together. Some that might be weekly date night. Others it might be watching a movie together at the end of a busy day. Whatever it be, really engage with your partner. It breaks my heart when I see couples on dates and their phones are out the entire time suffering the web. Or couples that text each other when they're in the same room. I'm guilty of doing both of these things, which is why I'm so heart broken about it. In my opinion, by doing these offenses, you're basically wasting your time/money, because you're simply not building your relationship, rather just coexisting with it.

Preface: My husband worked at a behavioral corrective facility, and I was just a troubled youth/single adult.

From our experiences, we have witness that a majority teens that end up at correctional facilities are searching for attachment and love. The didn't find it in their families and went searching for attachment and acceptance else where. Some, ended up in the facility because they simply made some bad choices, and they need to feel that hard boundary, (law enforcement), once, to decide that they didn't want to make those choices again. (Yup! That was me!) This is why my mission is so important to me. It literally breaks my heart seeing parents arrive to the meeting for their children, and really only show up to fight with an Ex.  Or the child that can't spend Christmas day with their family, because their family didn't want to make the drive to get them. How does this happen?

I am a firm believer that it's NOT a night and day transition. It happens by years of neglecting to give our family what they need, and losing focus on what truly matters. Whether you have a traditional, blended, gay, or are a single parent family, there is no greater gift that you can give your children than quality time.

Deerly Beloved wants to regain focus on what truly matters, and that's family! We are a family business, that encourages and promotes family bonding and adventures. You're adventures don't have to be huge, like traveling Europe, but can be as simple as reading books together. You choose. What matters is that time is spent together. So I invite you to join our Deerly Beloved family and join our movement! Make time for what truly matters, and aim for family bonding once a week.

 Remember it's never too late to create memories that could last a life time!

The Lingo

So… if you read the first post, you heard my embarrassing story on how I didn’t know what a western was. Yup, true story. My girl at Luck Leather Lace Love, will testify to this. You can say, that I’ve learned a few things since then, and I’m still learning. I’m just the wife to the guy that does all the adventures I blog about, but I do get to do and learn about some of these adventures with him. Here are a list of words that have an Outdoorman meaning and what I thought they meant, you will see my progress.

      Words                                Outdoorman definition                                 My first thought

v  Shed                           Antlers                                                                 A place to put storage

v  Buck                           Male deer                                                           A dollar

v  Cow                            Cow or female elk                                           An animal that says moo

v   Bull                            Bull or Male elk                                                 A cow with horns

v  Spike                           A male deer with one point                   something sharp that pops tires

v  Doe                              Female deer                                                      cookie dough or money

v  Two point                   A male deer with two points on both side       I had no idea.

v  Snare                          A type of trap                                                        No clue

v  Bale                          hay block                                                      What you post to get out of jail

This is really a short list of the many words I've learned along my journey, but I figured it was enough to get my point across. Hope it was either educational or made for a good laugh. (:

Little shoes

Part of thrifting is about spending as little as money possible. I refused to pay the $60 a pair of moccasins from Freshly Picked, so I decided to make my own.

 

I do not have a good tutorial for this… and I wish there was. I will be on the lookout for one. I use this free pattern from this blog, and modified it by hand to make moccasins. It literally isn’t something I could even upload because there is nothing for me to upload, it’s on the leather. So, this is a case of “I figured something out that works for me, but with no clear instructions on how to make it work for you”. Sorry… but if you follow her pattern and I did NOT sew mine by hand; you could make some really cute scalloped moccasins. I did. (:

Crochet ear warmer headbands

I learned to crochet with my grandma when I was 12 years old. I started off with making a lot of hot pads, of course square hot pads. They literally are the easiest thing to make, which is why I started with those. Years later I thought… “Hey, I know how to crochet, why I don’t I make ______ item?” Little did I know… there are many more stiches to crocheting other than chaining and double crochets.  So, as I’ve made a few more items since then, YouTube has been my best friend. I seriously don’t know how my grandma learned how to do it when she was younger. I’m a watch and do kind of girl, and she didn’t have YouTube. If you ever looked at crochet magazines or books, the instructions on how to do a stich are so confusing… so I suggest, If you want to learn and your pattern asks for stitches you don’t know, YouTube it. It literally is an awesome way to go.

 

 

I used this pattern for my crochet ear warmers… I guessed on measurements for my daughter. I used the full measurements for myself.

Pillow Case Dresses

I use this tutorial because I can usually hit Joann’s on a holiday and get sweet deals on flat quarters. I only use 4 flat quarters on the dresses I have made, but my last dress I will use bias tape for the bottom hem and the straps. I just feel like it will give it so much more. Just follow her instructions, but when she adds the 5^th fabric strip, just use bias tape instead. She also has a few more ideas on how to change the finish of the dress on top. Those will add diversity to your creations.

Tutu’s…

 

There are just so many tutorials to watch on these… I really don’t even know which one is best, but I will add a link to one that I think will give a basic idea on how it’s done.

 Also, flowers… Most of the time, I made my own bows and some of my flowers, but every now and then I cheat. Here is a link for a shop that will give you flowers, wholesale prices, and it even has tutorials on how to create headbands for your little’s. I believe that knowledge should be shared. Enjoy.

Fabric Banners

I love the fabric banners I have made for holidays and for my daughters room. They are just a nice addition to add a little something else, as far as décor goes.

 

 

 I used this tutorial. I liked her instructions, but I will just add… measure and measure again every side before you cut. My first banner I didn’t, and I can totally tell that some of the triangles are larger than the others, luckily I think it still looks cute, but I still notice.