Sorority Crafting Sundays: Sorority Sparkly Pumpkin

Turn on some Hocus Pocus, and let's get crafting!

1. Using paint that matches the color of your glitter, paint the entire pumpkin. The bottom is tricky, but make sure to paint that as well. We don't want our pumpkins tipping over and showing a naked bottom! Let dry. 

2. Cover your pumpkin in Mod Podge from every angle.

3. It's GLITTER time! Gently pour your glitter of choice over the entire pumpkin. Let dry. You may have to do this is sections, and don't forget the underbits of the pumpkin. 

4. Once the glitter has set, you'll know it is if you run your finger across the surface of the pumpkin and most of the glitter stays on, you will want to seal the glitter. Using your trusty Mod Podge, gently dab a light coat on top of the glitter, being careful to not knock off too much of the loose glitter. Let COMPLETELY dry. Plug in your glue gun.

5. While the sealant is drying, take your ribbon or tulle and fan fold it several times until you have a nice hefty amount in your hands. Tie a spare piece of your ribbon/tulle around the center of the stack, pinching it together as we have done in the previous Sorority Spirit Hairbow tutorial. Once it is cinched in the center and tied off, fluff the bow to your content. 

6. Using your hot glue gun, pile a generous amount of hot glue on the top of the stem of your pumpkin. Press the center of the bow into the glue and hold it there until it is cooled and dried. 

See? Super simple. However, you will now find glitter all over your living room for the next 12 months. Totally worth it for this cute and sassy little pumpkin. 

Sorority Sparkly Pumpkin Supplies

Sorority Sparkly Pumpkin
It's that time of year. Everything is pumpkin flavored, and you're fighting your impulse to start wearing scarves in the 70 degree weather. To ring in the spookiest of months, we are creating Sparkly Pumpkins.

Mine will, of course, be in my sorority colors of royal purple and pure gold. You can always go in a SEC Football route if you're super into that whole sports-ball thing. Either way, this is a fun way to display the pride for your team or chapter for everyone in the neighborhood to see.

What you'll need:

• a FAKE pumpkin, size of your choosing. If you don't need it to last for long, feel free to get a real pumpkin, but this is a decoration that can be reused year after year. I recommend hitting up Michaels's Craft Store with a coupon. 
• acrylic paint similar in color to your glitter of choice
• A lot of glitter. For my pumpkin, I will be using 1 color. 
• Mod Podge
• 2 spongey paint brushes
• Hot glue gun
• 1 hot glue stick
• Newspaper to catch the massive amounts of glitter.
• Coordinating wide sparkly ribbon or tulle

Time: about 1 hour (including drying time)

Get ready to get glittery!

Book Review: I Heart Recruitment - Get Motivated

Do you have a dream? I've had several dreams in my life. 

One was to work at the Alliance Theatre. Achieved it!
One was to learn to run long distances. Achieved it!
One was to lead a chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon women. Totally achieved it!

Do you think any of these dreams just magically happened? Oh no. A lot of work was put in to them.

My job at the Alliance Theatre was not handed to me. It took many years of interning and volunteering for the company to be recognized as an attractive team member. From those years spent working for free, I made myself indispensable and from that they CREATED a position for me.

Growing up, I was not the most fit kid. I didn't like vegetables. I got migraines for playing on the playground in direct sunlight. I was a bit round, and was easily winded. In college, my diet altered drastically when I realized veggies are actually really good, but working out wasn't exactly my thing. Last winter, I had reached my heaviest weight of my life and knew something had to change. I signed up for the Color Run 5k with some friends and made a plan to train to run the thing. 10 months later, I'm running 16 miles a week, lost 25 lbs., and feel great. But there has been a ton of work since that first day back in January.

Now I'm here, advising a chapter of my sorority on becoming a better version of themselves. My leadership experience ranges from coordinator to committee member to Vice President to advisor. There are too many stepping stones, bumps, and bruises to count. Let's just say I worked really dang hard to feel qualified to advise for my international organization.

Dreams are what keep people motivated when they are going through the trials and the tribulations. When you are on the brink of giving up, you remember that ultimate goal and take those last few steps. The desire to see that dream become a reality will keep you working a little longer, and keep you connected.

I think our dream is to become a healthier, stronger chapter. With this, our chapter could achieve so much more. I love what I Heart Recruitment says about defining the tangible qualities of the chapter's dream. What would it mean we could HAVE, DO, BECOME?

Define your dream, and that will keep you motivated through the hard times.

You betta work. 

My Big Fat Big/Little Revelation

I don't know about you, but going to Big Little Revelation as an alumnae feels a lot like a big family reunion. You know, the kinds you see in the movies.

Maybe you dress alike so others can tell which branch you belong to. You wander around looking for a familiar face, and try to avoid a few you haven't called back in a while. What?! You're busy!

When you finally find your Little, she's stressed out trying to arrange a family photo that can accommodate the entire group. The fact that you showed up gives her back her sanity, and the two of you work together to find the best photo op. 

Grandlittles, Great Grandlittles, Great Great Grandlittles, Great Great Great Grandlittles (yes, it makes me feel old), pop out of the woodwork and tell you stories about how the sorority is without you. It's kind of nice to know you are missed. 

The event itself is kind of like a circus: games and chaos. But, the moment the Littles and Bigs are revealed still gives you goosebumps. It makes you nostalgic for your days matching up with your Littles. The laughter, the tears, the punches in the arm because you lied and said you weren't their Big alllll week just to throw them off. 

Suddenly you find yourself jumping in every picture. Smiling like a fool from pride for your family. 

The family photo comes and you have to stand on the roof of a truck (true story, see the picture below) so you can stack yourself just right at the top of your family tree. The photo is almost overwhelming. This is your legacy. These women are the future of your chapter. These women are the face of your international organization. And dang, we look FINE!

Book Review: I Heart Recruitment - S.P.A.M.

Today's lesson: S.P.A.M.

Do people, the anti-Greeks, think your chapter is a fake, gross, confusing can of mystery with confusing letters? Or worse, does your chapter think others think that? You're not doing yourselves any favors if you are too afraid to market your chapter to your student population. I've run into this with other chapters. They are concerned doing too much "sorority talk" is going to scare away potential members. 

Wake up, sweetheart. You're in a sorority. A badass sorority that does more good for the community than most people realize. Now, its time to S.P.A.M.

What the authors of I Heart Recruitment mean is: do you have the Skills, Product knowledge, Audience awareness, and Motivation?

I recommend using these four components to create a series of recruitment workshops. Here are some examples:

• Skills Workshop: Host a conversations workshop where women have the opportunity to practice talking about the sorority. 
• Product knowledge: DPhiE 101 Jeopardy would be fun. Create a game board and offer prizes to the sisters with the highest scores. 
• Audience awareness: Take a poll from the chapter of how they perceive the campus population, and their feelings about Greek life. Talk to your Greek advisor their opinion of the student body and their feedback after recruitment events. From that information, form a plan to reach out to the "Maybe Joiners". Their minds are not made up, and therefore there is opportunity there. 
• Motivation: Host a Pride Workshop. Come up with new cheers and have a cheer-off with your sisters. Paint new wooden letters for your next Bid Day picture together. 

These are just some options, but the possibilities are endless. Get creative. Have fun!

Book Review: I Heart Recruitment - A.C.E. Your Values

Today's lesson: Achieving, Communicating, and Expecting the values of our sorority. 

Identifying your values is the first step towards a rockin' recruitment. For most, this should be easy. They are all throughout our ritual book, on your website, on some of your t-shirts, and have been spouting out at you at every chapter meeting in one way of another. Now, instead of nodding back at your Leadership team or snapping in approval, think about their actual meaning.

How do you live your ritual?

Delta Phi Epsilon's core values of Justice, Sisterhood, and Love (cue snaps and hugs) seem pretty straight forward. I challenge you to dig a little deeper. How do you internalize your values?

For me:

• Justice: Am I fair and kind to my fellow sorors? Panhellenic sisters? Fellow females? 
• Sisterhood: How can I reach out and lend a hand to a sister in need? Do I hold them in high regard? Are they a priority?
• Love: This is not a romantic love. This love is one that leads me blindly into any chapter room of DPhiE and compels me to care. I care about their chapter struggles and triumphs. How can I show my support for my sisters and our philanthropies?

Once I have identified and internalized our values, I move on to communicating them. Blogging about my experience is a nice touch. But I am constantly a representative of my international organization at work as well. To communicate our values, I am prompt, work hard, and remain organized. Otherwise, I am left looking a little hap-hazard and don't represent the leadership training my sorority experience invested in me. 

Finally, you better believe I expect nothing less from the women I advise. Without coming off as a raging psychopath, I communicate my expectations of this newest class of women wearing MY letters. I expect from them what was expected of me. At recruitment workshops, I stress the importance of finding these core values within the women we choose to offer bids to. It seriously takes half the work out of the New Member Education Program, and ensures the chapter will continue on after they are all long gone. Graduated... not dead. 

I really enjoyed reading this chapter. It easily breaks down the steps to a process I  have been practicing mentally for years. 

Happy Informal Recruitment Day 1!

First Day of October

May the power of pumpkin spice be with you.