Saturday is Crafty Day #2

Thank you so much for joining me on another Saturday is Crafty Day! Thanks to everyone who linked up last Saturday. I was blown away by your amazing crafts, recipes, and ideas!

Here some more of my favorites...

Allison at House of Hepworth made this awesome, calming candle centerpiece.

New Nostalgia featured the neatest square foot garden...what a great idea when space is limited!

Treasures From The Heart made these beautiful Psalm 139 bottles. I just love them!

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

This awesome bench makeover came from Impatiently Praying for Patience.

Santa's Gift Shoppe & Ideas made these homemade Samoa girl scout cookies. These cookies are my absolute favorite!

If I featured your projects, feel free to grab my "featured" button on my sidebar!

Now onto your projects. Feel free to link up anything, past or present, that you have crafted, baked, found, or refurbished. I want to see them all!

 

Yes, This Is My Real Job

*Here's the part where Laura shares a little bit about her job*
[I tell you all of this because so much of who I am and what I do comes from my unique job/living situation/crazy life that comes living with 400 students]

For those of you who do not know, I am a residence hall coordinator. I am not the "head RA," nor am I doing this while I go to school. I am not doing this until my "real job" comes around...this is my real job and I worked really hard to get here.

This is the short story of how I got to where I am.

I went to college to be a famous journalist. I was going to wander the country meeting people and sharing their stories. I wanted to write about everything and get famous doing it! However I fell in love with the college campus much more than the newsroom.

After graduating from college with a journalism and political science degree, I went on to get my master's degree in College Student Personnel. I know you've probably never heard of this, but rest assured, it's a real degree.

I graduated last May, moved states and started my big-girl job, went home for 4 days to get married, and came back on Tuesday and went back to work.

Some common questions when people find out that I am a hall coordinator:

• Are you going to school?
• What's your major?
• What you want to do when you grow up?
• Are you the head RA?
• You live in the hall, like with the students?
• And you actually wanted to do this.

My answers are nope, none, this, nadda, oh yea, more than anything!

According to my position description, my responsibilities include supervision of student staff, academic support, community development, assessment, conduct, and crisis intervention.

According to Wikipedia, "another aspect of being a Residence Hall Director is that they also tend to live in the hall or a separate adjoining apartment. They also tend to be on call 24 hours a day and are generally called by their RAs if problems arise needing attention." That sounds about right!

I'll be posting a few more tidbits about my crazy awesome job so stay tuned!

Simply Designing Giveaway!

I am hosting a giveaway over at Simply Designing. Make sure to stop by for a chance to win:

petal pins!

and a black pearl and ribbon necklace

with a cute birdie charm!

Make sure you stop by and enter!

Blog Swap With Every Crafty Endeavor

I'm so glad to be blog swapping with Amanda from Every Crafty Endeavor. I just love her blog and am so happy to be sharing it with you! Make sure to visit me over at Every Crafty Endeavor.

***

I am so excited to be here today at Along For the Ride!

Laura has such a fun blog and it is great to be apart of it!
My name is Amanda and I am the creative mind behind “Every Crafty Endeavor.” I am married to a dashingly handsome, hard-working man named Spencer and we have a little boy named Quinn! I work part time as a writer on a marketing team for an Engineering Company and craft in my “spare time.” I have been a “mommy blogger” for a couple years – and started Every Crafty Endeavor to showcase some crafty ideas that I have made.

Sometimes I come up with ideas on my own and sometimes I see ideas that I love and copy - always giving credit of course! That is what I love about blogging - everyone shares ideas and our homes and babies and lives are much cuter! I love to craft and cook and I have lots of fun ideas and tutorials that I love to share. I am constantly thinking about things to cook, make or sew, accessories that pop, ways to decorate my home and things to photograph.
When visiting my blog - you will find ideas and tutorials for:
Home Decor

Yummy Recipes

Baby Stuff

Accessories

and a whole lot more!
When you have a minute, please stop by and say hello and see what other crafts I have been working on. I am always looking for new ladies to blog swap with and fun crafty ideas for my Friday Favorites.

Thanks again for having me Laura!

It's been fun and I enjoy meeting your readers!

CSN Giveaway Winner!

Congrats to Carmen who said: I'm following you and would love to pick out something from CSN. So many choices! Thanks!

I will be e-mailing you soon!

Thank you to everyone who entered...more giveaways coming soon!

 

Hi Friends. I'm guest posting over at Craft Envy. I'd love it you stopped by and said hi!!

 

Favorite Features

Wow, I can't believe 85 folks linked up to my first party! Thanks, everyone, for just making my day.

There are so many amazing projects that I couldn't wait until Saturday to show you some of my favorites!

Ellen at Ellen's Creative Passage made the most adorable cupcake pin cushions. I am in love with them and would love one for my new craft desk!

Camille at All About Mommies made this super sweet lemon skirt. I'd love my whole house to be in that fabric!

Live, Laugh, Make Something created a beautiful fabric necklace. Perfect for summer!

Practically spent made the cutest fabric flower vases. What a great way to use extra material.

I am in love with this PB typewriter knock off at Holy Craft. In fact, I think it would perfect in my living room :) She also has a great tutorial.

There were so many fabulous projects it was so hard to choose! I just can't get over how talented you all are!! I'll be featuring more on Saturday.

If I featured your project, feel free to grab my "featured" button on my side bar.

And remember to link up this Saturday!

CSN Giveaway- Last Day!

Today is the last day to enter the CSN Giveaway for a $40 gift certificate! Click here to enter.

 

Hostage Week

I wanted to let you all know that I am holding Fun to Craft hostage!

Stacey is holding a week of guest posts while her craft supplies are being held hostage (aka she and her family move). I'll be guest posting at Fun to Craft on May 10th. I hope you'll join me!

Saturday is Crafty Day [#1]

I'm so excited that you are joining me for my first ever blog party! I can't wait to see all the fabulous things you've come up with this week.

I thought I'd kick the party off by sharing something that I've been working on.

Kyle and I (and lots of volunteers) have been painting a duplex this week for a woman in our church that is moving in today with her three girls [you can read more about it here]. I really wanted to make the place look a bit more like home for her and her girls, so I made monograms for each of the bedroom doors.

 I cut four pieces of cardboard for--one each for mom and the girls. Since we painted the rooms a creamy color, I went with a brown, green, and blue theme. I painted the cardboard a dark brown.

Next I used coordinating scrapbook paper and cut out their initials. An X-acto knife worked perfect. I used Mod Podge to glue the letters to the cardboard.

[yes I know it spells bean...that's funny]

When the letters were dry, I covered the whole thing in Mod Podge.

To cover the ugly edges, I wrapped them with pearls-on-a-string [yes, that's the technical term].

[yes, those are my kitty's feet]

I added a bit of ribbon...

and there you have it!

Now I want to see what you've been up to! Recipes, crafts, furniture, whatever. I'd love it if you linked up!
Please make sure to post the "Saturday is Crafty Day" button on your blog [found in my side bar]. Also, try to visit other crafty folks' blogs. We all love comments! I'll be sharing some of my favorites next week!

Sunshine Award

I am so honored!! I received the Sunshine Award from two of my favorite bloggy ladies, Nicolette and Vanessa, at Craft Envy.

I have been following them forever and absolutely love the amazing things they come up with! With jewelry to home decor projects, Craft Envy is definitely a daily read!

So now I get to pass the award on to 6 fabulous bloggers...what a tough decision. I follow tons of blogs and love every single one, but I guess if I had to pick just 6, I'd choose:

1. Susan @ Hometown Girl

I think this was the very first blog I started to read, and it's definitely a daily stop for me. Susan features beautiful photographs, crafts, recipes, and reflections. Just love her!

2. Amanda @ A Lovely Place to Land

Amanda has such a big heart and inspires me! She has declared April as DI4Y month and has done some incredible things for others. Check out her blog for more information.

3. Jen @ Tatertots and Jello

Tatertots and Jello was one of the first blogs I started reading and I have learned so much from Jen. She is one of the most creative people out there and her projects never cease to amaze (and inspire) me!

4. Joye @ the Joyeful Journey

I absolutely love Joye! She has a beautiful heart, adorable family, and a deep love for Christ. She's definitely an inspiration!

5. Cheryl @ a pretty cool life

"A pretty cool life" is a recent addition to my blog reader, but I just love it. From her awesome crafts and her helpful tutorials, this is a must read!

Ok ladies, here are the rules: 

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award on to 6 other bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Link back to the person from whom you received this award.

Thank you again Vanessa and Nicolette. You are the best!

CSN Giveaway!

Have you heard of CSN Stores? Well, CSN has over 200 online stores that carry everything from  tv stands, children’s toys, home decor, furniture, and more! Check out all their stores here!

CSN’s mission statement:

Our Mission To build a lasting organization that succeeds and grows by making online shopping rewarding for our customers, partners and employees.

CSN Stores would like to give one lucky 'along for the ride' reader a $40 gift certificate to use on anything they like on any of the CSN online stores. How great is that!!

You can use your gift certificate toward:

These

I own Fiesta Ware in Shamrock and I love it!

How about this

I want it!

Or that

Would look so cute in a little girls room!

Want to enter?

Mandatory entry: follow 'along for the ride' and leave a comment letting me know.

For an extra entry, blog about the giveaway and leave me a comment letting me know.

Please make sure you leave your e-mail address!

The giveaway will end Tuesday April 27th @ 5pm.