In my blogging ecourse, I talk about how its so important to let your blog grow and change with you. A great blog is a reflection of a the person behind it- their ideas, inspirations, style, interests and loves.


I've been writing Va-Voom Vintage for 4 years and 5 months and it never strayed far from vintage fashion but I've been feeling a change coming for a long time. While I've thought about what I want to do next, I've been blogging less and less.
 

I haven't been wearing vintage much lately at all. I've been laying around in capris and Pj's tee shirts and spending way more of my day with my kids. I've been cooking from scratch, organizing the house, doing projects with my little ones and crafting for myself. I'm having fun and I'm spending less time on me and more time with my family. At first I thought, "Maybe my blogging days have come to an end?" But no, I love vintage and I love sharing things with all of you. I just need a change of pace.


Va-Voom Vintage will continue to be everything it was with the new addition of my favorite recipes, more beauty tutorials, more home decor, housewife tips, kids fun and craftiness. I'm happiest when I'm crafting so there will be much more of that.

My style is turning into something more practical and "real". I need clothes that I can wear while I play with the kids at at the park. I need a grocery store outfit without needing a full hour to get out the door. I don't wear 40s rayon while I hand wash 3 loads of dishes and scrub the toilet on a weekday and I want this blog to show you all a more real side of life as a vintage housewife and mom. Not only can you put together gorgeous vintage outfits but it can be something that suits your modern lifestyle too.


While Va-Voom Vintage originally began so I'd have something just for me, it has grown into an outlet to share all aspects of my life, not just what I wear.  I'll try to maintain the vintage theme but sometimes it'll just be more of my daily life and nothing vintage at all. Either way, this blog will be a more clear reflection of my life, my loves and myself. I hope that you all enojoy it!

 I love to drive around the mid-century neighborhoods in my city, gathering inspiration for outdoor decor and landscaping for my vintage home. One key element is always missing from these homes, though- a vintage mailbox.

Retro home enthusiasts have also noticed that those colorful mailboxes with sharp mid-century designs aren't being made anymore and the only way to find one is to scour ebay or hope to find one at estate sales. The mid-century mailbox is coming back with beautiful reproductions from Modbox.



The Modbox features the best design elements from classic vintage mailboxes and is available in original Eichler Exterior accent colors.


                   turquoise          sunflower               pumpkin             eucalyptus               paprika

 Check out the video to see the Modbox design process and learn more about this gorgeous vintage mailbox:



 

Modbox needs our help to launch their designs into production

How does it work?

Pledge funds through Kickstarter before June 12th 2014. if the goal is met, pledges will be charged and Modbox will launch. If the goal is not met, no funds will be charged. When you pledge to fund Modbox, you will be among the first to receive Modbox product.

$15 or more: receive vinyl mailbox numbers inspired by mid-century architect Richard Neutra's work

$25 or more: $25 off Modbox products, lock in Kickstarter prices plus $15 off

$100 or more: modern mailbox post inspired by Sears 1961 catalog, 7 colors available

$180 or more: Be among the first to recieve a Modbox in black or white

$215 or more: Be among the first to recieve the two tone Modbox, choose from 10 color combinations to bring out the modern lines of the Modbox

Visit Modbox on Kickstarter to see more pledge options

For more mailbox inspiration and to learn about Modbox, check out their website and blog.

Disclosure: Modbox is a sponsor of Va-Voom Vintage. Please view my full disclosure policy

 
On Saturday, we went down the street to Lewis and Clark Heritage Days, an annual festival and reenactment focusing on the Lewis and Clark expedition which began just a few blocks from my home in May of 1804.  Pj loves reenactments and looks forward to this event every year.


The kids always have fun seeing the soldiers fire their flint locks and cannons and playing with the old fashioned toys. I love admiring all of the fantastic costuming and seeing the camps set up.





It was a beautiful warm day and I wore my new confetti cat eye sunglasses and ric-rack skirt, which never gets worn often enough. We milled around the house all morning so I didnt have time for fancy hair. When time is short, I always go for a beehive or bouffant. After seeing Daffny's darling 60s flip, I tried it myself with my hot sticks.  I  loved how quick and cute the flip is.  I think you'll be seeing this style frequently this summer!


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Good morning, lovelies! What a beautiful weekend we had here in St Louis. Pj and I got the pool and patio set up in the back yard and although it has been too chilly to swim lately, we're due for a warm-up very soon. We went to a history reenactment on Saturday and I shared my daily outfit with my fab rick rack skirt on Instagram. Stay tuned tomorrow for lots more pics of that! Yesterday was a work day here, as I finished listing the last bits of vintage on etsy and after my vacuum bit the dust, I got to pick out a new one. I don't know about you ladies but I get pretty excited over a new vacuum!!

This morning I want to share some beautiful things from my sponsors. Please do pop over and give them some love!



Now that all of my vintage hoard is listed, I'm excited to get my new sewing room set up. I've been dreaming on new projects while shopping for new sewing patterns. Patterns from the Past is an amazing resource for vintage seamstresses. Here, you can find sewing patterns from the 1920s to modern out-of-print patterns. Right now, select patterns are 25% off!




Love That Lingers is a hand-picked vintage boutique, curating retro treasures for the modern girl.  This etsy boutique is fully stocked for summer with vintage swimwear, sundresses and adorable separates. Be sure to like on Facebook for coupons and flash sales! Right now, there's a 25% off sale going on till tomorrow!!




Little Miss Vintage 3 on etsy specializes in vintage clothing, jewelry, accessories and home decor. Follow along on Instagram @littlemissvintage3 for updates and sales. I'm loving her summery collection of southwestern styles, which I always lean towards this time of year.



Bloomers and Frocks is a beautiful online vintage clothing boutique from fellow blogger, Rebekka Adams. Rebekka has curated a whole section of plus sized vintage clothing, my favorites featured in the gallery above. Also, don't miss the exquisite lingerie section for slips, girdles, corsets, bras and lounge wear.



Vintage Makeup Guides by the fabulous Glamor Daze blog are original vintage beauty books in downloadable format loaded with makeup application instructions, details on products used, skin care and more. I had so much fun reading through the decades and experimenting with different looks.  The book for each era is $10 but you can also download all makeup guides for $20.

UPDATE: Vintage Under Thirty now closed, thanks to everyone for shopping my vintage hoard!

 I'm so pleased to announce that I am 2/3 of the way done with listing my entire vintage hoard on etsy. I never thought that I'd be able to fly through this project so quickly but I am beyond thrilled that I did!


As mentioned in my previous post, I bought several car loads of vintage clothes from a local warehouse a few years ago with the intention of running a full time etsy shop. My blog took off as my main business and I didn't have time for vintage repairs, cleaning and selling anymore. As life stands at the moment, I probably won't have extra time for any shenannegins like that until both kids are in school.

So a huge area of my basement was full of racks and plastic totes full of clothes from the 1920s-1970s. It sat and I ignored it till spring cleaning took over this year and something had to be done. Instead of hanging on to yet another unfinished project, I decided to let it all go and I opened Vintage Under Thirty on etsy just two weeks ago!



Since then, a large chunk of my hoard as found a new home and I'm finally down to listing the final 100 pieces of vintage!! When everything is gone, the space will become my new sewing room, since it's right next to the kids play room.

Please help spread the word and come check out Vintage Under Thirty on etsy where nothing is over $30! There's loads of dresses in all sizes, some great blazers and jackets, a few separates and lingerie items too. We do ship internationally and will combine shipping, just drop me a convo for rates.

That's not the "royal we". Pj has been helping me with the shipping, packaging and all of that fun stuff!

There will also be a big vintage coat sale very soon. Since coats are so heavy and shipping is expensive, all coats will be under $10. Some have lovely fur collars and jeweled buttons so stay tuned for those, coming this weekend into early next week.

Items go super fast so I always update on Instagram (@vintageunderthrirty) and Facebook when listings will begin.

On Saturday, I met my best friend, Amanda in downtown St Louis to go to the 2nd annual Spring Fling The Spring Fling is hosted by St Louis boutique, Parsimonia Vintage and is one of the very few vintage events in the area.




This was my first year at the event and it was a wonderful time! It took place at the historic Crown Square, next to the city's oldest soda shop, Crown Candy Kitchen- in business since 1913. We had hoped to take the kids to Crown Candy but the line was never less than 50 people long so we skipped it this time.

The street was lined with vendors, both from brick and mortar and online shops, and a few who only set up at festivals. I got to chat with many curators and artists while we admired their beautiful things. My friend, Erin was there, with her beautiful booth from Yellow Bird Gifts




I bought a great pair of confetti cat eye sunglasses and a chunky bakelite bangle for a song.


 


Here are just a few of my favorite vendors from the Spring Fling. Do check them out online!


beginning at the top, from left to right:


After our travels around town, we went to Pj's company picnic where we played Bingo, watched the kids romp on the playground and enjoyed live music and lots of yummy treats. A few snaps from Instagram:

I hope that all of the moms, aunts, grannies and friends had a wonderful mothers day weekend! We had a very busy weekend of vintage shopping, gardening and playing in the back yard but stay tuned for pics of that tomorrow.

 Today, I want to announce the winners of my past two giveaways!


The winner of the $50 gift certificate to Perfectly Posh Vintage is Kim Covell-Campbell

The winner of the hat of your choice from Lady Eve Millinery is Akram Taghavi-Burris


Congratulations, ladies!!

Thank you to everyone for your entries and of course to Perfectly Posh Vintage and Lady Eve Millinery for the fabulous giveaway prizes!

That phrase drives me crazy, "Being vintage". A person is not really "vintage", with the exception of grannies but you know what I mean, is your vintage lifestyle or fashion choice a major part of who you are?




This topic has been on my mind for the past several months. I was contacted by a student doing a questionnaire about the vintage culture. I thought it would be a bunch of stuff about why you love vintage, who is your style icon, blah blah blah....but no. It was about who I am as a person and how my love of vintage fits into that puzzle and these thought-provoking questions brought some very unexpected answers

One question was something like- Do you have any friends who aren't interested in vintage?

 That's a thought that never crossed my mind but the answer is surprisingly.....no! I don't think of myself as a vintage snob. I think that all people are unique and interesting and worth hanging out with but yeah, all of my friends are interested in vintage. It didn't happen on purpose.
 Before I started blogging I was a bored, lonely housewife with three cats. I had lost touch with all of my high school friends due to moving around a lot and the fact that I stopped wanting to make friends in high school. I had outgrown a lot of my long-time friends. They were 17, getting their first cars and on the verge of drinking age. They wanted to party and go to raves and clubs and I wasn't like that at all.


 I moved out, dated a little, met Pj and we got married. My co-workers were much much older than I and we didn't have muchin common. By the time I quit my job and became a housewife, I really didn't have any girlfriends or anything. I started my blog to connect to like-minded people and after these several years of blogging, all of the local and world wide friends that I have, I met through my vintage blog.

All of the girlfriends that I talk to every day and text while I'm hanging out at home are vintage bloggers and readers.
 I recently made my first "non-vintage" friend! She's a stay at home mom with kids the same age as mine. Of course, I met her through one of my local vintage friends. We talked about non-vintage things like taking the kids to the park and planning barbeques this summer. It was oddly comfortable and refreshing.


Another question was something about "If you didn't blog about vintage, what would you do?"

Well, that's a scary thought.  If I stopped blogging about vintage and wearing vintage tomorrow, what the hell would I do with myself? No more sewing vintage clothes or pin curling my hair or thrift store hunts.

I started this blog because I'm passionate about fashion history. I have loved the topic all my life. I go to museums and desperately want to touch and turn things inside out to see how they were constructed. I need to have sewing in my life too. I went a few months without a sewing machine and was horribly depressed. I need to have a little time to myself each day to be creative and to put myself together. When I don't create and when I let myself live in pajamas, I'm not happy.

So if I stopped wearing and blogging vintage, what would I do? I really don't know. I would have a lot more time for my other loves like cooking, gardening, doing craft projects with the kids. I would probably go back to school or find some other wonderful thing to do



I didn't plan for this but yes, I guess that being a vintage blogger is a huge part not only what I do but who I am at heart.  I still do a lot of non-vintage related things but this is my passion, my fuel for my creativity, my means of supporting my family, my connection to my best friends- I dream about vintage (quite literally), I think about it throughout the day, I live in a vintage home and listen to old music while I clean it.  I love old things and old stories and I truly love doing this.

What about you? Is being vintage a major part of who you are?

A few times per year, I get on this kick where I feel like "Everything Must GO!" I go through the house with a box and fill it with all of the nic-nacs and junk that has accumulated. I go through my closet and throw out worn sweaters and things that I haven't touched in a long time. I got the house all de-cluttered last week and after that was done, I moved on to the basement.

Oh the nightmare that is my basement. About 1/4 of the space down there is filled with racks and totes full of vintage clothes. I bought several car loads of vintage about two years ago with the intention of starting a vintage shop. I did that for a while but I really don't have time to make all of those repairs and work out stains. The dresses just sat there.

I've decided that its time to let things go. Stop being a reality tv show hoarder and just let it go. I won't have time to sell vintage again till the kids are in school so let's stop being silly.



Yesterday, I opened a brand new etsy shop, Vintage Under Thirty. I'm listing everything in my hoard, all 330 pieces (minus a few that I can't part with because I have no self control). Everything will be priced ranging from $3-$30 each! Some things are damaged (need a zipper, buttons, dye job, full over-haul) and some are not so please read all descriptions carefully. All sales are final, no returns or refunds but do send me a convo if you have any questions before purchase. Swing on by and grab a great deal. There's a lot of things that would turn out beautifully with the help of a clever seamstress and plenty of things for vintage sellers too.

I cannot accept wholesale requests or requests to buy all items from a certain era. I'm taking this project on by myself and it's been pretty overwhelming trying to process everything through the shop. I want to share my finds with everyone and give all of you a chance to get a great deal on vintage.  I do combine shipping on multiple orders and I'll do my best to find the cheapest rate possible.

When the vintage is gone, I'll be setting up my new sewing room in this space and with the funds, we'll be going on our first family vacation next year.