How to Style Stripes 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 "Stripes" and was picked by Joanne.

Every season when the list of "trends" comes out, stripes is on that list.  Like denim jackets, utility coats, etc., stripes never go out of style.  Yet, they do sway from cool to hot, and this season stripes are hot, hot, hot!  I am seeing stripes everywhere, mostly in sweaters or tops, so Joanne was right on trend to pick stripes for our theme this month.

I have actually never been a fan of stripes, especially on my top half.  I don't care what "they" say, horizontal stripes on your top half make you look bigger. Since the lower half of my body is smaller than my top half, I am always struggling to balance the two with my clothing choices, so I avoid wearing horizontal stripes on my upper body.  

Because stripes have always been trending as long as I've been a fashion blogger, I have tried many horizontal striped tops in the past.  I always buy them because they are popular, but then I end up donating them because I don't like the way they look on me.  So when Joanne picked "stripes" I was initially tempted to go out and buy one of the trendy new striped sweaters I've been seeing all over the Internet.  Then I remembered how I never liked the way they looked on me, so I scratched that idea and I tried to think outside the box.  As I searched my own closet it was then that I spotted them!  My linen pants.  They are stripes, they are just vertical, so they qualify!  In my head I kept picturing a horizontal striped top, but stripes can go both ways, and you can wear them on your bottom half too!

I purchased these striped linen pants at TJMaxx last year.  I have shown them to you before in THIS POST where I wore them in the summer with a black t-shirt and sandals.  But because it is spring, I paired them with a lightweight white cardigan and open-toed heel.

Just like horizontal stripes can make you look wider, vertical stripes can make you look taller and leaner because the long vertical stripes elongate the legs.

My white cardigan is very lightweight;  perfect for spring/summer when I might need that extra layer in air conditioned buildings or on chilly mornings/evenings.  I purchased it from Carly Jean Los Angeles.  My t-shirt is a light grey color to match the grey in the pants.  Would you believe I purchased this t-shirt in a pack of two for $3.00 at the Dollar Store?  You never know what you will find at the Dollar Store.😀  It's super soft and is such a nice quality t-shirt, something I would normally pay a lot more for at a high end store.

My bag is by Nine West and is super old.  I chose this bag because I wanted to add a tad bit of color to this neutral outfit. 

My shoes are super old too.  They are an open-toe espadrille style.

For jewelry, of which I forgot to take close ups, I chose all silver pieces to match the silver in the pant waist tie.  The necklace is a lovely pendent that has a shorter section to fill in the neckline area but then it also has a longer pendant to go down the rest of the top.  I also wore silver drop earrings and a silver bangle bracelet.  Always complete your outfit with jewelry.  The simplest of outfits can be given a boost with jewelry.

So what about you?  Are you a fan of stripes?  I'd love to hear from you!

Now be sure to check out how the other ladies in our group are styling their stripes and link up with us as well!

Amy ~ Amy’s Creative Pursuits

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Bo ~ Bo's Bodacious Blog

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Joanne ~ My Slice of Life

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Jodie ~ Jodie’s Touch of Style

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Leslie ~ Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After

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Marsha~ Marsha in the Middle

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Mireille ~ Chez Mireille Fashion Travel Mom

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Rosemary ~ Distinctly Southern Style

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Have a Great Day! Amy

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A Happy Easter Weekend Until it was Not

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter last weekend, I know I sure did;  but anytime I get to spend time with the grand babies is a happy time, and add to that celebrating our resurrected savior together makes it extra special!

We drove down to Indianapolis to spend Easter at my daughter and son-in-law's home.  The weather was only in the 40's in Wisconsin when we left but it was a balmy 78 degrees by the time we hit southern Illinois.  The warm sun felt wonderful.

The grandkids were so excited to see us again.  That makes me feel so loved and special.  They were pushing aside the curtains and watching out the windows when we arrived.  By the time our car pulled into the driveway they burst out the front door and ran out to greet us.  My husband said, "This must be just how Jesus will feel when He comes to get His bride."

After all the hugs and kisses Atticus says to my husband "I missed you so much Grandpa Todd.  It was too long since we saw you".  That made me want to cry.  The last time we saw them was at Christmas.  It's hard being a long distance grandparent.

After an eventful evening, we had the grandkids open their Easter baskets on Saturday night because I bought them new Easter clothes to wear to church the next morning and they were in their baskets.  Sorry the photo is so blurry.  I've been trying to take less photos and "live in the moment" more but then I don't get the nice photographic memories either.  It's hard.  I don't want my grandkids to grow up with a phone in their face, but I want the precious memories preserved too.  

My daughter is eight months pregnant so I brought the baby a gift.  It's an adorable onesie that says "Someone in Wisconsin Loves Me".

My son came with us on this trip as he was able to get some time off work.  The grandkids loved seeing him again too.  He's nice to have around for when the grandkids wear us out with play, he can play with them a bit and give us a break 😁

The next morning we went to my daughter and son-in-laws church.  They always do a nice Easter breakfast.  I couldn't believe how much food little Elisha could put down.  Yes, he ate almost everything on that plate.  My daughter and son-in-law are going to have one huge grocery bill feeding three boys!

Atticus did not appreciate having his meal interrupted to have his photo taken 😂

Both of my grandsons are crazy in love with their Grandpa Todd.  This little guy ran right past me and straight for Grandpa Todd when we arrived at my daughter's house and pretty much stuck to him like glue all weekend long.  Part of me feels bad that they prefer their grandfather so much over me, but then another part thinks it's the sweetest thing in the world how much they adore their grandpa.

Alethea and I however have our own special bond.  She loves her Grandpa Todd too, but there's something special between a grandmother and granddaughter.

The church had a little photo background set up where families could take selfies.  That's always nice when churches do that.

I just loved the tulips, they are my favorite spring flower.  I forgot to mention that when we were driving to Indiana what joy it was to start to see green:  green grass and some bushes were already leafed out.  Then we started to see lots and lots of white flowering trees, and by the time we arrived in Indiana all the daffodils were in bloom.  It's still quite brown here in Wisconsin, although my daffodils have pushed out of the ground.  I'm not sure if they will bloom though as we've had freezing temperatures plus over 8 inches of snow since they budded.  But we will see.

My gorgeous daughter eight months pregnant.  Don't you love her dress?  It's not even a maternity dress.  She bought it at Shein.  She buys all her dresses there.  I've never shopped from that site but all her beautiful clothes tempt me.

When we got home from church we had a quick lunch of sandwiches then we began the annual Easter Egg Hunt!  The kids have so much fun hunting for Easter Eggs!

The next day, we visited a local park.  The area my daughter lives in has so many great parks to visit.  

It was nice to have Jordan around so he could get into the playground equipment with the kids. 😂

Atticus has become quite the climber!  This kid will be scaling mountains soon!

And I couldn't believe Elisha was brave enough to go down such a tall slide!

He sure enjoyed it! No fear at all!  Just look at the smile on that face!

After a day like that, we wore the kiddos out so it was time to settle down and watch a movie, of which Elisha fell promptly to sleep.  😄

The next day it was time to drive home and the weather looked terrible.  I considered staying another day, but it did not look like the weather would improve until the weekend and we couldn't possibly stay that long.  The boys both had to be back at work, plus I only set out a few days of food for my cat, not a full week, so we just had to brave it up and go.  For nine hours we drove through every type of weather extreme there was:  torrential downpours, high winds, sleet, hail, ice, fog, and snow.  I kept thinking we would drive out of the rain in Indiana and Illinois, but the farther north we drove we ended up driving into a winter storm.  It was awful, and it was NOT even forecasted so I was not dressed for it.  I only had a sweatshirt, jean jacket, lightweight sweat pants, and ballet shoes.  I checked the weather on the Friday before we left and it said "sixties and clear".  How could the weather change so drastically in three days?  

But eventually we made it home safely and thankfully we left early enough that we beat the worst of the storm because later that day people were posting photos on FB of cars and semis spun out in ditches and highway traffic blocked for miles.  We only saw one car in a ditch on the way home.  I set my alarm for 5:00 am that day and ended up waking up abruptly at 4:00 am so I just decided rather than try and get back to sleep to just get up and go home.  The good Lord must have woken me up knowing that the roads would get worse and worse as the day went on, because we got through the worst part of the drive before the worst part of the winter storm.

When we finally arrived in our neighborhood, we went directly to vote because it was our state's primary.  That was weird.  Drive nine hours in a horrible storm, then show up to vote frazzled.  Good thing we did our research beforehand and knew exactly what was on the ballot so we were prepared, a lot of people were not.  Then when we got to our house, Jackson was so happy to see us.  He, like the grandchildren three days earlier, was also eagerly waiting at the window 😂.  When we entered the house all the kitchen cupboards were open because apparently the little guy ate all his food and was looking for more! So it was a good thing we came home, or he would have been one hungry kitty.  I don't know what happened there, I put more than enough food out for him.  Either he over-ate or a mouse ate got in his food.  I felt so bad for him and I will definitely leave out even more food for him next time.

So what about you?  How was your Easter weekend?  Have you ever had to drive a long distance in bad weather?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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Handmade Easter Cards and Tags

It's almost Easter weekend and I am so excited to not only celebrate Easter, but also to see my grandchildren again.  I always bring them an Easter basket filled with lots of treats and good things (check out THIS POST for ideas of what I put in their baskets), plus I made them each their own Easter Card.  Here are the cards and tags I made this year.

First up is Elisha's card.  Elisha is two years old so I thought he would like this big bunny card.  The image is from MFT and is not from a traditional Easter stamp set.  This card is a good example of how you don't need a stamp specifically designed for Easter to make a card for Easter.

To make the card I stamped the bunny image onto white card stock, colored it, and cut it out.  I used two sheets of coordinating designer paper for the background:  the green and white background and the dashed lines one behind the rabbit.  I cut the oval shapes using Spellbinder's Nestabilities.  I wrapped orange ribbon around the card and tied it with a bow.  The rabbit was popped up on dimensionals and the flowers were stamped twice, cut out, and also popped up on dimensionals.  The eggs are 3D stickers.  I stamped the sentiment onto white card stock, cut it with a tag die, and added an eyelet.

The large bunny tags that have all the children's names on them, were purchased already in the bunny shape but I added the detail myself, and glued google eyes and cotton balls on them.

Next up is Atticus' card.  Atticus is four years old.  For both boy cards, the one above and the one below I tried to use more earthy, neutral colors.

To make this card I stamped the bunny image and flowers onto a white base and colored it with Copic markers.  The Easter basket was stamped separately, colored, and cut out then popped up with dimensionals.  The butterflies were also stamped separately, colored, and popped up.  The bunny and flower vine are from retired Stampin' Up! "Tender Toile" set.  The Easter basket is from retired Stampin' Up! "Spring Gifts" set.  The sentiment is unknown.  The butterflies are from MFT "Adorable Elephants" set.  The "basket weave" background was made using an embossing folder and Cuttlebug machine.  I used and MFT die to make the white and green arch shapes.  Everything was adhered to a beige card base.

My last card is for Alethea, a six year old girl,  so I was able to use softer pastel colors.  Alethea's card is a combo Easter/spring card.

To make Alethea's card I used a floral stamp that has to be colored with water based markers before stamping.  I used Stampin' Up! water based markers.  Once I stamped the image, I added bunny die cuts which I cut with a die from "Memory Box" then I drew some detail on them.  The umbrella was cut with a Circuit machine and I tied on a sentiment tag.  The rain drops are epoxy stickers and the eggs are little buttons which I cut the back off and glued onto the card.  The main image panel was adhered to a blush card base.

The bunnies and umbrella were both popped up with dimensionals.

 Have A Great Day and Happy Easter!  Amy

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