Friday, February 28, 2014

Friday Inspiration

Hope you all have had a wonderful week and have a relaxing weekend ahead! I'm working Saturday but will be using the rest of the day to organize and maybe even craft!

Featuring Lilly Pulitzer's "In the Garden"

Do you have a favorite quote? Share with me in the comments below! 

Stay true to yourself,
Alyson

Monday, February 24, 2014

Crafty Belles: Hemming pants

Sewing can be very intimidating... Making things look store-bought takes a lot of practice! An easy way to start is by hemming a pair of pants.

First, rip out the original seam on the hem. Be gentle!

Then, find the correct length. Mine was easy - I was lengthening pants, so I just unfolded the hem and used the very bottom fold. If you're shortening the pants, you can just fold the hem up! Then, sew in a straight line.



Lastly, iron your hem! If you lengthened, it may take a wash or two to get the commercial crease out.


That wasn't so hard, was it?

Do you sew? Share with me in the comments below!

Stay true to yourself,
Alyson 



Thursday, February 20, 2014

Life lessons from Cairo: Gentleness

Recently, a Georgia woman rallied to ban pit bulls after her son was mauled to death by the family pet.

I strongly disagree with this. While it's terrible this poor child was killed out of an act of seemingly random violence, I don't understand how or why banning them would work.

But, the issue inspired lots of people to discuss animal provocation. Animals, like humans, have mouths. Anything with a mouth can bite. If you wouldn't do it to a human, you shouldn't do it to a pet. This includes poking, shouting, pulling on ears and the like, or threatening. If you growled at another human, they'd be taken aback and on the alert. So would a dog.

What's important is that it reminded me of something important: being gentle. My poor cat humors me picking him up, rubbing my face on his belly, kissing his nose and holding him against his immediate will, among other things. When I do these things, I just want to satisfy my needs - affection - and I don't even think about his wants.

Oh, did I mention he puts up with baths too!?

It's a good reminder to be gentle with others. You can be mindful of others wants without knowing them. Like with pets, body language is a huge indicator. For example, I know that when Cairo thumps his tail, he's overstimulated.

In a very aggressive world, it can be hard to soften. I encourage you to take a step back and let yourself be gentle, just once this week and see if you get a different reaction than you expect.

What ways are you gentle? Share with me in the comments below!

Stay true to yourself,
Alyson

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The Final Draft: Belle Meets Business becomes Belle on Air

Well, what do you think? It took me some time but I finally figured out how to combine the two things I wanted to talk about into one!

On that note, I will stop changing the URL now (sorry!)

Any suggestions? Maybe posts you'd like to see? Share with me in the comments below!

Stay true to yourself,
Alyson

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Oops...

I've been missing in action lately. So here's an official apology for that!



I've been considering shutting down the blog, mostly because I didn't have the time or inspiration I wanted to really go at it.

BUT... I think I'm going to give it another shot. More changes are coming... we're leaning back towards the original Southern Belle theme and I think y'all will really like how the blog will satisfy your southern belle and future of the media needs.

So... some changes are ahead! Be on the look out!

Stay true to yourself,
Alyson