How To Wear Linen Pants

Linen pants are a great shorts alternative to wear in the summer when you don't want to wear shorts for personal or occasion reasons.  They are so lightweight and breathable, you barely even feel you have anything on, so they keep you as cool and comfy as a pair of shorts would.  

I found this cute pair of linen pants at my favorite clothing store:  TJMaxx.  I wore this outfit for the occasion:  Sunday in church.  

The pants have a double black stripe and a wide waist band with a tie.  I really wanted to show off the waistband, but I don't have much of a waistline, so I did a half-tuck.

I paired my linen pants with two other TJMaxx finds:  a black Michael Koss short sleeve top and white quilt-top sandals.

The top has pretty chiffon butterfly sleeves.

Here you can see what the outfit looks like from the back, with the top un-tucked.

For jewelry, I chose a simple bohemian style elephant necklace and a black and white bracelet.  This is one of my favorite bracelets and somehow I misplaced it and haven't seen it since this photo shoot.  😡😢 I have no idea what could have happened to it.

Because I wore this outfit to church, I picked a dressier top, but these pants would make a great casual look with a tee too!  I think sandals work best with these pants because they are so short on me but a cute pair of sneakers would also be fun.

Wondering how else to wear linen pants?  Here are some more ideas:

• denim jacket
• blazer
• button down top
• classic tank
• chunky or heeled sandals

And when the weather cools down, wear your pants with a chunky, oversized sweater or cardigan.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

 

TJMaxx Fall Fashion Finds

Lately I've been finding TJMaxx to be my go-to place for fashion.  I try to pop in there at least once a week because the new stuff goes fast.  If I'm short on time, I at least walk the main aisles because that's where they put their newest items.  I can spend time searching through their racks for slower days.

I found both this pretty black top and fun pants at TJMaxx this fall.  This is the perfect fall outfit to wear when the calendar says it is fall but the weather says it is still summer, as the colors are dark, yet the fabrics are light and breezy.

These pants attract a lot of attention.  It seemed everywhere I went, someone complimented these pants.  They have an elastic waist, and are very lightweight so they are super comfy.  I think they would be very appropriate to wear on a summer evening as well.

The top is by Calvin Klein.  It has loose, flowing, butterfly sleeves which I love.

Because the pants are ankle length, I wanted to wear a showy shoe so I chose these strappy black sandals from my closet.

I felt the outfit had a classic, yet boho vibe to it so for accessories I chose a DIY tassel necklace.

 So what about you?  Have you found any great buys at TJMaxx lately?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Fashion On A Budget with Ageless Style

Ageless Style is a monthly style challenge and link up for women of all ages.   Each month we pick a different theme and style an outfit based on that theme.  This month's theme is:  "Fashion On A Budget" and was picked by ME!

With many Americans struggling to pay their bills right now due to inflation, fashion takes a back seat to buying groceries, paying the electric bill, and putting gas in their cars.  Walmart recently reported that their customers have so little money left after buying groceries and gas, that they are not shopping in other departments and they will have to slash prices to get their items sold.  It doesn't look like wearing the latest fashions will be top priority for most of us this year, yet, we all still want to look are best.  So I decided to ask the ladies of Ageless Style how do they dress fashionably on a budget?

Four ways to stay fashionable on a budget are:

1). Thrifting.  Shop rummage sales, and charity and consignment shops.

2). Shop the clearance rack at your favorite clothing store or wait for an amazing sale.

3)Shop at discount stores like Walmart, TJMaxx,  or on-line shops like Shein.

4). Shop your own closet!   Wear what you already own.  Look for ways to wear an old piece of clothing in a new and creative way.  Or, if you have mad sewing skills, reconstruct an item in your closet into something totally new.

My favorite way to stay fashionable on a budget is to shop the clearance racks at my favorite stores.  The best way to get the biggest bang for your buck is to buy clothes out of season.  I purchased this beautiful red skirt at JCPenney in the middle of winter for only $3.99.  You heard me, $3.99!  What a steal!  Now the trick to shopping this way, is to only purchase items you know will be still be in style next season.  Don't buy anything too trendy, as it most likely won't be in style when you're ready to wear it.  But a classic floral skirt like this, will most likely last many years.

I wore this outfit to a ladies Bible study and then for an afternoon of shopping.  My top is a simple sleeveless tank from Walmart which I think I paid less than $5.00 for.  My sandals are from TJMaxx (another great place to shop when you're on a budget), and my bag is from DSW.  Everywhere I go, women comment on my bag.  I purchased it several years ago, and for whatever reason, everyone seems to love it.  I like it because it goes with almost all my summer clothes and it's super roomy, which I always need in a handbag.  Small purses are not for me.

For jewelry, I decided to bring a different color in so I wore a teal and silver cross necklace.  I echoed the silver with one simple silver bangle.

So what about you?  Are you spending your usual amount of money on clothes this year or are you cutting back?  How do you stay fashionable on a budget?  I'd love to hear from you!

And now let's see how the rest of the ladies stay fashionable on a budget, and be sure to link up with us below too.

Amy ~ Amy’s Creative Pursuits

Blog | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook |

Cathy ~ My Side of 50

Blog / Instagram/ Pinterest / Facebook

Joanna ~ My Slice of Life

Blog

Jodie ~ Jodie’s Touch of Style

Blog | Instagram | Facebook 

Marsha~ Marsha in the Middle

Blog /Instagram

Mireille ~ Chez Mireille Fashion Travel Mom

Blog | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook |

Rosemary ~ Distinctly Southern Style

Blog / Instagram / Pinterest / Facebook

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Grandma & Me Around The Christmas Tree

I am thrilled to show you my Christmas photos with the grand babies today as I think I have the cutest little munchkins in the whole wide world!

This year I decorated my tree with white and a frosty mint, although I feel you can barely see the frosty mint color in the tree.  I think that will change when I add the presents under the tree as I purchased some mint ribbon I will wrap the presents with.  The mint ribbon should bring out the mint in the tree more...I hope so anyway.

To coordinate with the colors on the tree, we all wore shades of white, grey and mint.  I couldn't believe how we all pulled items out of our closet and everything came so well together.

This is my favorite picture of the photo shoot.  I just love the smile on my little guy's face.  What a cute little pumpkin he is!

Alethea is growing up so fast now it breaks my heart.  She is definitely transforming from a toddler to a little girl right before my eyes.  

Alethea is three and Atticus is one.  Alethea wore an all white dress.  The bodice is satin with a floral design, and the skirt has a pretty white tulle overlay.  Atticus tied our color theme all together with his cute mint green pants and adorable grey cable knit cardigan.

Of course we had to bring the family sleigh out for the annual Christmas photo!  My son bought this sleigh for my husband and I for Christmas many years ago....before we even had grandchildren!  When we received it, we said it would be great to put grand babies in for holiday pictures.  Little did we know then how much use this sleigh would really get.  It will be a family heirloom for sure!  The only problem is, the kids love it so much they play with it likes a toy and my hubby is constantly nervous they will break it.  

This little guy is quite the snuggler!  He doesn't have any rocking chairs in his home, and I have two!  He got such a kick out of my "chairs that move" and loved to cuddle with me and rock in them.

Alethea  warms my heart because she is always so excited to see her grandma and grandpa.  She giggles and screams when she sees us for the first time after a long absence and then runs into our arms.  It's wonderful to feel such love like that.

Well now that I have spent quite enough time bragging about the grand kids, on to "Fashion Over Fifty".  My dress was pulled from my closet, but it has never been worn before.  I bought it from TJMaxx in-between lockdowns.  Our church opened up in spring, after the first lockdown,  and we thought we would be going regularly;  so I purchased this dress as a winter  outfit to wear to church.  I thought it would look so cute with a black cardigan and tall black boots.  But then fall came, along with a rise of Covid cases, so our church closed again and I never had the opportunity to wear my new dress.  I therefore thought, I might as well wear it for the photo shoot so I get some use out of it.  It ended up coordinating so well I was thrilled with my purchase!

The dress is a classic design, so even though I may never be able to wear it out of the house this year, I'm hoping I'll get some use out of it in the years to come.  It's a tweed material with a light grey background and black threads woven through out.  It is a fitted shift dress with two black buttons on the front.

I wore light grey panty hose (I know, so out of date, but us Wisconsin gals can't go bare legged in winter) and accented with mint green shoes and jewelry to go with the mint in the Christmas Tree.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

A Fall Outfit For A Boat Ride

If you are looking for the Ageless Style Link Up I regret to inform you that the ladies in the group decided to call it quits.  I was not part of that decision and I was extremely disappointed the ladies did not want to do it anymore.  I feel way too many link ups are ending and the reasons for them ending just make no sense at all to me.  I was so excited to join the group, and I think I only participated in three challenges, and suddenly after years, they want to fold.  It made me wonder "Was it me?".  Oh well.  I'd start my own link up but I always struggled with the link up codes.  I just don't have the technical skills.  But if there is any other over-40 fashion link up group that's wants a new blogger....I'm free!

I will be honest, ever since Covid, my fashion days came to an end.  Because everything seems to be cancelled, other than grocery shopping and hiking, I mostly seem to be wearing activewear.  I have not purchased one new piece of clothing in six months other than a $25.00 dress for a wedding and lots of face masks/neck gaiters.  Since our activities are so limited now, my husband and I have been doing a lot of outdoor activities. I did have to buy new activewear when we had a sudden cold spell hit Wisconsin and got dumped with a record breaking six inches of snow.  Due to this unexpected cold, I had to find activewear to keep me toasty warm while hiking.  I tried Under Armour Cold Gear and just loved it!  I hope to do an active wear fashion post soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to show you an outfit I wore to the Wisconsin Dells and a Dells Boat Tour the next day.

The evening before our boat ride it was a gorgeous, sunny, warm 65 degrees.  We walked around the downtown Dells area and took these beautiful pictures as the sun set.  It was so romantic.

I always check the weather and it was supposed to be warm all weekend, so I only brought this one outfit plus my active wear.  Well, to our surprise (and everyone else's in the Dells area) the next day the temperatures never got out of the 40's so I was very ill-prepared for a Dells Boat tour.

On the sunny, warm day before the boat tour I was able to just wear a rust tee with a camel cardigan.  The bottoms are jean leggings from Stitch Fix, and I wore camel booties on my feet.  The camel infinity scarf is actually a neck gaiter to meet Covid restrictions.  I am not one of those people who is terrified of getting Covid.  I believe in the sovereignty of God and what will happen will happen.  I trust Him for my protection and if He chooses to allow me to get the disease, I trust that is His will.  For me, the neck gaiters work the best.  I can wear it as a scarf around my neck, and they are easy peasy to pull up when I need to enter a building.  So I have collected a lot of them, and when Covid ends, I can still use them as infinity scarves.

This is one of my favorite cardigans.  I love thin knits that don't add a lot of bulk to my frame.  The color works with so many of my outfits and I like the length.

As I said earlier, everything in this outfit is old as I'm not buying new clothes during Covid but I will link to something similar at the end of the post.

Because the next morning was so cold, I had to amend my outfit slightly.  What I really needed was a parka, but unfortunately I didn't bring one.  So to stay a little warmer I put my black activewear jacket on underneath my cardigan.  It's so thin, it fit without looking bulky.  Thankfully,  I did have the foresight to bring a blanket scarf so I threw that over my shoulders.  Scarves are such great additions when traveling.  Always bring a scarf when you travel...they can be lifesavers if the weather changes suddenly, and they take up such little space in your luggage.  In this picture, I left the scarf untied, but the wind from the boat kept blowing it off, so I eventually tied it in a knot in front as you will see in the next picture.

I'm still loving my brown hobo bag that was a present from my son.  It's so big and roomy and the brown color is so fashionable right now.

Here is what the scarf looked like from the back.  Yea, I know, you're probably all wondering what I'm looking at.  But you'll have to wait till my next travel post to find out!

Rust Tee Shirt (old, TJMaxx, similar HERE), Beige Cardigan (old, TJMaxx, similar HERE),  Jeggings (old, Stitch Fix, similar HERE), Beige Booties (old, DSW, similar HERE), Blanket Scarf (old, similar HERE), and Brown Cognac Bag (exact one still available HERE).

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

 

What I Wore In February and a Sneak Peek of My New Easter Dress

I don't have a lot of outfits to show this month as I didn't get out much, and when I did it was so cold my outfits weren't blog-worthy, but because I'm all about keeping it real and showing you what I really wear....here goes!

This is an outfit I wore on a chilly day to the hair dresser and running weekly errands.  It was a cold day, so I wore tall boots.  I always save those tall boots for the coldest of days to keep my legs warm. With those boots, I wore black leggings with a long burgundy sweater.

Believe it or not, this ended up being my Valentine Day's Outfit ha ha!  I do all these posts on "What To Wear For Valentine's Day" and this is what I end up actually wearing.  However, in my defense, I ended up choosing this outfit based on our activity.  We chose to visit our local zoo and conservatory for our Valentine date.  This required being comfortable in a car for two hours there and back, so I wore eggplant leggings for comfort.  We would also be spending lots of time outdoors in 30 degree temperatures so I chose a turtleneck sweater to keep me warm.  And because we would be on our feet all day, I chose comfortable hiking boots.

We had one slightly warmer day last month where I could leave the down-filled parka at home and just get by with this heavy cardigan from Stitch Fix.  It looks kinda funny in the photo as it's sort of a wrap too.  You can check out this post HERE to see other ways I styled it.

I paired the cardigan with a black tank, grey skinny jeans, and black suede 3 buckle booties.

And finally, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at my new Easter dress!  I don't want to show any pictures of me wearing it just quite yet, but I wanted to show the dress now in case you're shopping for dresses.  Items at TJMaxx disappear so fast, so if you need a dress, go now!  They have some pretty ones.

I really wasn't looking for a new dress, I have plenty already.  But as always, I go to TJMaxx to buy a mattress protector and I end up coming home with a dress. 🤣 TJMaxx is my danger store.  I really need to stay out of there.  Anyhow, I do have a wedding in late May too and I was starting to think about what to wear.  They always say "Don't buy a new dress for a special occasion, you will never wear it again."  But you know what the problem with that thinking is?  You take pictures at special occasions and if you don't wear something new, you are wearing the same dress in every picture of every special event.  Trust me.  My husband is the perfect example.  Every picture we have of him he's got the same outfit on.  Someday my grandchildren are going to ask me "Grandma, were you and Grandpa poor that he couldn't afford more than one shirt?" ha ha!

Anyhow, this dress is by Tommy Hilfiger and cost $40.  It is absolutely stunning on.  The halter neck line is so flattering and the belt really accentuates the waist line.  It is T-Length which I am so happy about.  It's so hard to find a dress that is below the knee these days.  I realize it could be really cold on Easter Sunday and I might have to wear a white cardigan with it or scrap wearing a dress altogether, which would be a bummer, but it's happened before!  But I'm sure I'll be able to wear it to the wedding at the end of May (fingers crossed!  We've gotten snow in May here too!).

So have you found your Easter dress yet?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Ageless Style - Spring Forward

The Ageless Style Link Up-  The first Monday of every month a group of over forty fashion bloggers pick a monthly theme and show different ways of styling it. 

I don't know about where you live, but spring is in the air even if the ground still has a little snow on it.  We have been enjoying very mild temperatures here in Wisconsin.  It was a gorgeous 50 degrees on the day we shot these pictures, and it's expected to be in the 40s and 50s all week!  Hooray!  Spring is almost here.  Shelly's theme of "Spring Forward" could not have come at a better time.

For the "Spring Forward" challenge I am showing that I am "springing forward" with color, a classic trench, and shoes that are NOT boots!  I am always so excited to lose the booties and boots and start wearing pretty shoes and sandals again, aren't you?

Everything I am wearing in today's post is old except for the top; but as usual I will link up to similar items at the end of the post.

 

This stunning, hand made top is by Solitaire and I found it at TJMaxx.  I have been shopping for clothes at TJMaxx a lot lately.  You have to be patient, dig, and frequent the store regularly, but if you do,  you are sure to be rewarded with a great find.  I just love what a unique piece this top is.

The slightly mustard yellow color with the white embroidery is perfect for spring and cooler summer days.  I love the scalloped bell sleeves.

 

My earrings are also handmade and made of rattan.  They are so lightweight that I can't even feel them when they are on.  They make a great statement without pulling down my ear lobe.



The top has a beautiful scalloped edge.

Because it's kinda still winter in my neck of the woods and I wanted to keep my spring look more "transitional" I wore my new top with old black ankle length pants from Stitch Fix.  But I can't wait till the weather warms and I can try this top with my light blue cropped pants or white denim.

 

I chose these black suede wedges because I'm not quite ready to expose the toes yet!

To add even a bit more color to my outfit, I carried a coral bag by London Fog.

On my wrist, I wore a large jeweled bracelet (old).

It's still cold enough that one needs a jacket.  I chose this classic trench that I purchased at TJMaxx years ago.  A trench is something everyone should have in their closet.  It's a great investment piece as a classic trench never goes out of style.

 

 Yellow Embroidered Top - TJMaxx,  similar HERE and HERE,  Black Ankle Pants - Stitch Fix, similar HERE,  Black Suede Wedges - Famous Footwear, similar HERE,  Trench Coat - TJMaxx, similar HERE, Coral Satchel - London Fog, similar HERE,   and Rattan Statement Earrings - Amazon.


And now, be sure to check out all the spring fashions the other ladies are showing and link up your own outfits below!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Amy ~ Amy's Creative Pursuits Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest

Bettye ~ Fashion Schlub Blog, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

Daenel ~ Living outside the stacks Blog, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter

Debbie ~ Fashion Fairy Dust Bloglovin, Blog, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter

Jennie ~ A Pocketful of Polka Dots Blog, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Bloglovin

Jodie ~ Jodie's Touch of Style Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Twitter

Julia ~ When the Girls Rule Blog, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram

Kellyann ~ This Blonde's Shopping Bag Blog, Instagram, Bloglovin, Twitter

Shelly ~ The Queen in Between Blog, Instagram, Bloglovin, Pinterest, Facebook

Shugunna ~ Nzuri N* Simplicity Blog, Pinterest, Instagram

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter