How to: Make a Paddle!

Nine times out of ten, when I go to craft something, I have a clear view of what I want the finished product to look like. There are always some minor adjustments along the way, because let's be honest, my mind imagines things that can’t always be done. Of course, this project was furthest from the truth. 

The supplies you need for any paddle are very simple. I have a tendency to use paper and modge podge instead of painting but that’s only because I make stick art look hard. You can buy everything you need at your local craft store and probably for cheaper than I got it. The paddle that I use is from Michaels. Really, other than the paddle you only need a couple of things if you use paper like I did. I picked this beautiful gold glitter cardstock and got regular modge podge and glitter modge podge to go with it. I also bought two wooden ovals and stick on letters to use for her name. Everything cost me under $20.

The before picture.

Using my paper cutter, I cut the cardstock into manageable strips and began to modge podge them onto the paddle. This is the tricky part; you want to use a lot more than you think. And by that I mean drench the paper and paddle in modge podge. Only drench it if you’re using cardstock like I did. If its normal scrapbook paper then you’ll have a way easier time. I got the middle part done fine and pretty quickly too. Now this is where I started to run into MAJOR issues. The cardstock I chose was just too thick to fold over the rounded parts of the paddle.

The process of adding card stock to the paddle.

I decided to take a trip back to Michaels to see if they had anything similar to what I used but in a thinner paper. I was in luck, I found something that could work, it wouldn’t be perfect but it would work. When you use the thinner paper, you work around the curves much like you would when wrapping a gift. I left the paddle to dry and came back about 10 minutes later to finish it. Of course, as soon as I left one of my sisters accidentally dropped her project onto my drying paddle. It was COVERED in bright pink paint. By the time I got back, there was no saving it.

While attempting not to cry over spilt paint, I painted one of the wooden ovals blue and then covered it in glitter modge podge (which by the way is amazing). I put her initials on it and set that aside to dry.

Cute wooden oval for the paddle.

I had to do something about the pink paint that covered the top half of my paddle. It luckily got mainly on the new paper that I had just added. I remembered that I had a ton of gold glitter in my craft box and decided to make it work. To remove the old paper from the paddle, you’ve got to pull it off and then sand the paddle down. This is really important because if you don’t, it won’t go on flat and the paddle surface will be uneven. 

Thick modge podge layers.

Once I covered the rest of the paddle in glitter, I put a thick (and I mean THICK) layer of modge podge over it to seal it down. Don’t skip this step. If you do, then I hope you like living covered in glitter. The next morning, the paddle was dry and my suite mate was overjoyed to have it!

The finished product!

Quote of the Week: August 29, 2013

"We may not have it all together, but together we have it all."

Going into my senior year and examining my life, I know the beginning of this quote well.  I don't have it all together, I don't know what type of job I will have when I graduate.  I don't know where I will be, what I will be doing, or who I will be with, and right now I am okay with that.  I know that I will get it all together, usually at the last minute. I also know that whatever happens, my sisters will have my back.  They are the connections that can help me get a job, or the friends I will have when my job causes me to move to a new city.  Whether these girls come from my chapter or afar, none of us have it all together, but together we will have it all.

XOXO- Taylor S

It's Basically a Fruit Salad... On a Stick!

Hey, y'all, it's Amanda Ramirez here! I'd like to say, first: thanks for checking out the Little Problems Blog! We appreciate each and every one of you, and hope you're here to stay!

Now, onto the post :)

We've decided on some interesting things for us to present to you and, today, I'm gonna be showcasing some cute, generic snack ideas for the upcoming recruitment season.

Now, it's probably easiest to think of small, easily accessible snacks (remember to stay away from things that most people are allergic to, like strawberries or nuts!) Less is always more, and it's definitely more affordable. One of the ideas that my organization's Recruitment Chair has come up with are Fruit Kabobs, which are incredibly easy to make. Here's the recipe for anyone who's interested!

Fruit Kabobs: It's basically a fruit salad... On a stick!
Prep Time: Approximately 30 minutes (depending on how many you plan to make)
Cook Time: N/A

Since Recruitment yields anywhere from 100-1,000 girls (depending on the size of your school and how many organizations there are to choose from), you're going to want to make these kabobs small, so  I suggest making them 6-inch skewers instead of the typical 10-inch. It makes it more affordable and easy to transport.

Ingredients Include:
Strawberries*
Cantaloupe pieces
Mandarin Orange pieces
Pineapple pieces
Kiwi or Honeydew Melon pieces
Blueberries
Any other fruit you might want to include

Most of these fruits can be found pre-cut in any supermarket.

*Strawberry Allergies!!! Be very careful!

Directions:
1. If using wooden skewers, make sure that all splinters and frayed wood are removed from the skewers (usually by rubbing two of them together between your palms)
2. Cut any fruit that is not already small in 1-inch, or bite size, chunks
3. Skewer the fruits in any assortment that you wish. You can make them uniform, or just have fun with it. Maybe make a rainbow.

You finished product should look a little something like this:

Always make sure there's room on both ends to hold the kabobs.

You can have fun with them, too! Some organizations buy ribbons in their colors and tie them onto one end, or you could even splurge and buy colored, plastic skewers (which eliminates step one entirely!) It's not too hard to make things cute for cheap, so never be afraid to push those boundaries and think of new ways to spice things up!

Remember: the way to a PNM's heart is probably through her stomach (because who doesn't love to eat?)

That's all for today, ladies! I hope this first recipe was helpful. Be sure to come back soon for new ideas and for all the amazing things we have planned for you!

Quote of the Week: August 22, 2013

"Sisterhood is not a destination, but a journey." 

This quote is so perfect to describe being in a sorority.  Being in a sorority isn't just about going through recruitment or being initiated, or even getting a big.  Being in a sorority is all four years.  It's the highs and lows, the philanthropy events and Friday nights out.  There isn't one exact time everyone feels they have gone from having friends to having sisters.  But one thing is for sure, after college is over and your 4 years is up, those girls will no longer be your sorority, they will be your family.

XOXO- Taylor S

Getting Your Name Out There Using Social Media

It is every sorority girl's and general organization member's dream to be that number one organization on campus and to be known by every student on campus. I wanted to share with you some tips, tricks and ideas I have learned firsthand from my position as Public Relations Vice President and Vice President of External Recruitment.

First, let me tell you a little bit about me, that way you will have full confidence that you too can make anything Public Relations possible. I am going to be a senior at the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK) and at my campus there hasn't been much of anything PR wise except for the last two years. In November, I was elected to both of my current positions which one is all about publicizing my chapter, and the second publicizing sorority recruitment to all of the new and current UNK students. I had no experience and I had never seen anyone really do PR who held the position before me. Have no worries though! I was able to teach myself how to use new programs and to learn from others.

To better your PR take a look at what other campuses or chapters on campus in your area are doing to get their name out there. If you see something that another chapter is doing that you like, take it, adapt it, and make it better. There is always improvement for whatever is being done, so don’t worry that you feel like you are copying someone, you are simply just building off of what they have done before. Don’t forget to check out what the fraternities are doing also! I have adapted some of their great stuff to work for my chapter!

Create pages and utilize social media for your organization. I have done this both for my chapter and our Panhellenic Council. One site is never enough! Not everyone uses the same types of social media, you want make sure that you are reaching all of your audiences! Some of the hot social media sites to use right now are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

This is the sorority life page I created for the University of Nebraska-Kearney with influence from the Sorority Life at Indiana State University page. 

Facebook will allow you to reach to your current members, those new to your school and alumnae as well! Not only can you reach a wider audience, you will be able to post longer stories, share what others have to say and can have members promote more prominently than twitter! Twitter is great for the sweet and short to the point updates! One thing to consider doing is promoting your longer Facebook stories that exceed the 140 character limit by linking them in your tweet and having all of your chapter members re-tweet the story. Instagram is great for showing what is happening now, in present time. Pintrest is any easy way to show your chapter style, collect future ideas and share with the world your old ideas.

This seems super overwhelming right? Don’t let it be! There are great programs out there that let you plan out your posts! My favorite is HootSuite. You can plan out your posts in advance allowing you to get a great deal of your posts done in between 8-5, rather than feeling like you have to sit at your computer with your sites pulled up at all hours of the day. Also learn to delegate. It helps to have one person in charge of each social media, so that way they can implement your ideas but keep track and have more time to work on each of the social media platforms.

I hope you have found this post useful on how to integrate social media sites in promoting your chapter or council! Have questions or comments, feel free to leave them and we will get back to you! Once again thanks for coming to the LP Blog!

Welcome Back to Recruitment

 
Every chapter has their own ceremonies, traditions and events, but there is one thing that every chapter has in common, recruitment.  Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about recruitment, whether they love it or hate it, its something that has to be done in order to make your chapter the best possible.  As an incoming senior I’ve experienced my fair share of recruitment on both sides of the fence, and over the years I have come to understand, and maybe not completely always enjoy, but appreciate everything that recruitment has to offer. 

There is the obvious, which is adding members to your chapter.  These girls not only boost your chapter total but they add to your family.  They become your littles, grand littles, or even great grand littles.  They create an image for your chapter on campus and even though it’s hard to imagine, those incoming freshman will be the ones that can make or break everything you have been working toward and will be the ones leading your chapter one day. 

Though the goal of recruitment is to add new members, a common misunderstanding is recruitment isn’t all about them. I come from a large school with a lot of girls in my chapter and though everyone tries their best, it is hard to get to know everyone during the year.  When recruitment rolls around, that all changes.  Everyone spends two weeks together, basically 24/7 working toward the common goal of having the best recruitment week ever, but what also ends up happening this week is that everyone learns more about each other and themselves.  

This is the time that you hang out with girls you might not necessarily hang out with, and you become even closer with the ones you do.  It’s where you learn songs that you will never get out of your head.  Dress up in crazy outfits to boost moral, and try to win that coveted tank top for most spirit.  You share funny stories and your deepest secrets.  You laugh, you cry (happy tears of course) and you become closer with your “sisters” than ever before.  This is the time that your sorority becomes your family and at the end of the week your family gets a little larger.  

Though recruitment can be daunting and stressful, and sometimes even seem unimportant.  Recruitment is a memory you will always look back on fondly and remember the laughs you had, the bonds you made and the sisters you gained along the way. So whatever you do, don’t take the week for granted, though your sisterhood last a lifetime, college and recruitment does not.

XOXO- Taylor S

Missed Your Big or Little All Summer?

Trust me, so did I.  That's why I've texted my big asking for a big/little date!  Now that we're heading back to school, that's the best way to catch up with your big or little.  I've come up with three big/little date ideas that I think you'll love!  Feel free to borrow these ideas, or contact us and let us know about your favorite big/little dates.

1. Lunch or dinner is always a great way to catch up.  My Kappa fam and I always go to a delicious Mexican restaurant by our campus.  Go to your favorite restaurant, or maybe try something new!  You could even buy groceries and cook with each other at home!  Find a fun Pinterest recipe and show off your inner chef.

2. Now that you're heading back to school, you could always go shopping for back-to-school outfits or supplies with your big or little.  Grab a "first day of class" outfit and a cute notebook!  Or maybe you could reinvent an old outfit.  There are plenty of possibilities!

3. Go get a mani and pedi!  After a long summer, this is the best way to relax before an even longer semester.  Plus, recruitment is just around the corner and this will be a wonderful way to be sure that you're looking great.  If you would rather, you can always stay in and paint your nails.  Bring snacks and a movie, and enjoy!

Little Problems would love to hear from you! What are your favorite big/little dates?

An Interview with the Creator of Little Problems

Ask anyone who works on the Little Problems team and they will say it's amazing. One of the main reasons being a Campus Representative is great is because of the amazing woman that oversees our nonprofit organization. Little Problems started in May of 2012 as a Twitter account, and now we sell amazing products and have over 50 campus representatives. I did a small interview with the creator of Little Problems, check it out below:

Q: Why did you decide to create Little Problems?

A: I created the Twitter account after searching for one of my own. It was during the summer and I was away from my Big. We always tweeted each other funny things and I wanted to find an account about Big and Littles that I could tweet at her. I looked for a few days and I couldn't find one, so I decided to make one myself.

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Q: When choosing a charity to support why did you chose the Wounded Warrior Project?

A: When I decided to begin the business side of LP, I had decided to do so because my boyfriend was getting ready to deploy overseas and I simply wanted something to keep me busy. Since I was given the opportunity to benefit myself with finding something to bide my time with, I wanted to pay it forward and hopefully give someone else a positive opportunity, which is why I decided to be a non-profit organization. I thought long and hard about what to support, because clearly there are A LOT of amazing philanthropies and charities out there. But I kept going back to the Wounded Warrior Project because it related directly to my boyfriend’s job. I figured that as a thank you to all of the men and women who've been injured doing the same thing he was getting ready to do, I could donate to WWP.

Little Problems is proud to support the Wounded Warrior Project

While he was deployed, unfortunately one of the men on his team was hurt and the Wounded Warrior Project was able to step in and give him a prosthetic leg. After they got back, I got the chance to meet him. It was an amazing experience getting to meet someone that WWP has been able to help, which very well could've been money from one of the LP donations. It was extremely humbling.

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Q: What is the best part about overseeing Little Problems?

A: There are a lot of things that I love about what I do with LP. I’ve been blessed to meet some amazing women through the Campus Rep program, some of whom are my absolute best friends now. Like the kind of friends that will be in my wedding some day. It’s also been wonderful watching LP grow from just me sitting in my room emailing every sorority woman I knew to a team of over 50 people working together to better LP. Being able to make donations to WWP over time has been wonderful too. The ability to donate to them is an awesome feeling to know that we’re truly helping someone who deserves it.

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Q: Where do you see Little Problems in a year?

A: To be honest, a year ago, this is not where I saw LP at all. I never imagined for it to grow as much and as quickly as it has. There are now so many more products than I started with and so many more people involved. In a year, I’d love to see our line expanded even more to include other products as well as having a larger team to help push us forward.  

One of the products added this summer!

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Q: What advice do you have for a girl wanting to start her own small non-profit organization?

A: Be ready for anything, stay with it, and most importantly, believe in what you do. There were so many times that I felt LP was going nowhere and wanted to quit. I actually almost stopped all together not too long ago because I wasn’t sure if it could get any bigger. Thankfully, the girls on my team and my boyfriend changed my mind (not that it took much convincing though!). So even when things are lagging a bit, stay with it because it is worth it. And as far as being ready for anything, be ready for people to want to help you in any way they can because they support what you do. But also be ready for people to bash it. I still get tweets from people making fun of LP and, unfortunately, WWP. Why people would be negative towards things that are just trying to help others, I don’t know. Then again, I’m a firm believer in karma. But you just have to ignore all that and know that what you’re doing is absolutely, 110% worth it.

I hope you loved this interview as much as I did. We are seriously blessed with the best team supervisor, don't you think?

Welcome to the Little Problems Blog!

We are so excited to introduce the latest endeavor of Little Problems. This blog is dedicated to helping you! We want you to be the best you can be when it comes to big/little, formal recruitment, and everything Greek life. With the help of our amazing team of bloggers we are here to give you all the advice you need to know!

Being Greek is important to the members of Little Problems. We have all been there and done that and we want to offer you the blog we wished we had when we went through recruitment and first joined our sororities. We don't want to be pigeonholed though because we will offer tons of advice for even the most seasoned Sorority pro!

On a consistent Monday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday timeline you will see posts from our amazing line up of bloggers; Campus Reps Amanda Cross, Amanda Ramirez, Christine Cassimus, Karlee Nuttelman, Morgan Miller, Samantha Bender, and Taylor Stewart will give you ideas on all aspects of Greek Life and give you some insights into the wonderful world of Little Problems!

On Tuesdays we'd love to hear from you! Contact Amanda C. at amandac.litprobs@gmail.com to pitch guest posts! We'd love to feature your work on this blog because it is all about collaboration!

We are so excited to take this journey into blog-land with you!

Love in Little Problems,
The Little Problems Blog Team