Last month, I featured Lexi's fab blog, Voluptuous Vintage Vixen, which has inspired so many women with her spotlights on plus sized beauty.

In addition to spreading the message that beauty is not dependent on dress size, Lexi works to make women feel beautiful through her talents as a hair and makeup artist in Paris. In 2011, she came out with her first book, Decades of Style: A Step-by-Step Hair & Makeup Guide - 60s & 70s .




 I learned to apply makeup from a book on styling glamor photography that my mom has had since the 80's. With its pages of full color step-by-step photos, Lexi's book really brought me back to those days of my early teens, studying application techniques from that photography book. Here, I tried "The Socialite" makeup look paired with "The First Lady" hair style. Makeup application is not my strongest suit but the book makes everything very easy to follow. Here's a peek at some sample pages:


 The thing I love most is that she shows how to shape brows and lips using cosmetics for a completely different look. Although the idea of makeup is that we can change our face with the magic of cosmetics,  these small details are often overlooked.



Decades of Style covers looks of the 60's and 70's but uses the same techniques that are used in modern and all vintage makeup eras- basic foundation, applying lashes, cat eye liner and blending shadows and blush as well as important makeup and hair tools.

Unlike many beauty books, the hair and makeup looks are not separated in to different sections so all of the information that you need is all in one easy-to-find place, which is very nice!

Lexi is giving away a copy of Decades of Style to one lucky reader!




*the giveaway is open worldwide and will end in one week. Lexi will select the winner at random*

I loved the 60's and 70's looks from Decades of Style, I hope to see some other decades from the talented and lovely Lexi DeRock

Pick up your copy of Decades of Style on Amazon



Voluptuous Vintage Vixen is a sponsor of Va-Voom Vintage.

It's spring, believe it or not- but for many of us, the weather is still quite cold and even snowy in parts. I'm ready to pull out my favorite light spring dresses anyway, with the help of some pretty colorful stockings.




 We know American Duchess for their exquisite replica shoes from the 18th century to 1920's but they also carry must-have accessories including silk clocked stockings in red, white and powder blue. American Duchess is the only suppliers of red and blue clocked stockings available on the market 



 {What is a clocked stocking? }
 A clock is an embroidered or woven design on a sock extending from the ankle upward, often on the outer sides, popular in Georgian and Regency era fashions.

 American Duchess Stockings are:

• 98% silk / 2% spandex
• White stockings are dyeable using any natural fiber dye such as iDye or RIT
• Top quality silk with a woven, historically accurate design
• Stockings come up above the knee, and stay up without garters
• Will fit women's shoe sizes US 7+, and men's shoe sizes up to US size 12
• Maximum stretch circumference at top is 21 inches / 53 cm 

 Although clocked stockings are often worn by history re enactors, try them with your modern and vintage spring dresses and skirts for fun, unique twist on the skirts-with-tights look. If you have small feet, see the tutorial for fitting your silk stockings from American Duchess



American Duchess is a sponsor of Va-Voom Vintage

Today we have a beautiful giveaway for Va-Voom Vintage readers, this time from sponsor, Café de Abejas



Café de Abejas is a 1930's inspired cabaret duo from Helsinki, Finland with
Laura Reunanen on vocals and violin and J.W. Rallion on guitar, vocals and mandolin. They released their debut album, Mascot Moth in February.

 "The duo has gathered appraising reviews for their uncompromising artistry and sophisticated songwriting, as well as engaging and enchanting live performances. On stage, they ooze glamour from a bygone era, with performances full of powerful storytelling, passion, decadence and wit. The sensation is rather like being immersed in absinthe."-  Pertti Avola, Helsingin Sanomat



 
Take a peek at Café de Abejas with their first video," Cynara!" and listen to my favorite song, Adora and all of the songs from Mascot Moth on their bandcamp store
  
 



This spring, Café de Abejas will be touring Europe with dates in England, Wales, Poland, Sweden and Finland. See their blog for tour dates

Va-Voom Vintage readers save 15% in the Café deAbejas bandcamp store with code "vavoomvintage" till the end of March


{Giveaway}
a copy Café de Abejas debut album,  Mascot Moth
Café de Abejas cocktail recipe booklet
Set of 4 postcards

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Famous Footwear and invited to attend the new store opening in Lake St Louis. The new store is right up the street from my Mom's house so Pj and the kids went to hang out with Grandpa while Mom and I went to check it out.




 We had so much fun, trying on all kinds of shoes, taking pictures and entering raffles for free shoes. They picked one winner to run through the store for 30 seconds and grab as many free pairs of shoes as she could. We all wanted to be that girl. The lucky winner was a mom of 6 and I don't know about you but I think a mom of 6 deserves free shoes for life!

 I've been to a few Famous Footwear locations and they always have so many cute, vintagey looking shoes. This spring, they have several styles of canvas flats, summery wedges, shoes embellished with eyelet lace and pastel colors.





Mom and I are both bargain shoppers so we peeked at the clearance racks too, which had some awesome prices- as low as $5 for fall/winter shoes.



 The shoes that really captured my heart are these funky jelly flats from Crocs.


Remember jellies when you were a kid? I'd beg my parents to buy me Jellies every summer because they were sparkly and to a first grader, could pass for glass slippers. I wore them for a whole 10 minutes before my feet started to blister. Oh so cute...Oh, the torture!


Well, I saw these and they come in hot pink and grey (and brown online) and since they are made by Crocs, they're made of awesome. Seriously, I slipped them on and told my mom "Put these on! It's like a Jell-O cloud!" They're not exactly vintage style but I don't care. Every girl has to have at least one great pair of flats in her wardrobe and if they're manufactured in heaven and infused with magical properties of eternal comfort, even better! I'm going to return to buy them in grey soon and I think I will have to have a pair of pink eventually as well!

Although my day job was a very noble one, there's nothing more important to me than being able to stay home and raise my kids. I've been working very hard for months and today I am officially a full time blogger/ vintage housewife again.

 I'm so happy to never have to miss another minute with the kids and to be able to focus more of my time on blogging, running my shop, cooking from scratch, gardening, sewing and doing the things I love. I have so many great projects and blog posts to work on and now I have the time to do it!


We woke up to 15 1/2 inches of snow today, which is a whole lot for St Louis! We ventured out, since the roads have been cleared and I found some new vintage pretties for the house at the thrift store today.

I've been thinking about bangs since December but being a round-faced girl, I was hesitant. A lot of people and beauty books say that girls with round faces should not do bangs because it accentuates the roundness in a bad way. I've done faux bangs a lot in the past and I really liked them and I see so many adorable girls with bangs and love the look. I had bangs as a kid and they remind me of being carefree, digging under rocks looking for bugs and watching cartoons while I eat my cereal.



So, I went for it on Monday night. Into the bathroom with some scissors and a comb and a few minutes later I did it! The next morning, I combed and whacked at it a little more to even it out.


It's a big change for me. I haven't had bangs since I was in 5th grade, I think. I'm still not sure if it's a good look for me or not and I can't judge by Pj's expression either.

 So girls- I know I can count on you. What do you think? Keep em or grow it out?

On a side note: Hello, to my very first dslr camera! I am loving this thing to pieces. I bought it a few weeks ago and have been spending my days reading my manual and online tutorials to figure it out. I have wanted one for years and am so pleased that I finally did it. I love photos that look like you could reach out and touch them. Mine is a Canon Rebel EOS T3 and it rocks!!

in the basement of an old asylum, now a home for people with developmental disabilities

It's interesting and sad to me that the idea of life in an asylum has become trendy. I wonder when that happened.  If they saw electroshock equipment like I did, befriended the people who were abandoned by their families like I did...really seen it from the inside as the patients did,. I think they would change their minds. People think that the 50's were a perfect time of gingham dresses and happy families and jello salads but take a look at the innocent people with developmental disabilities that society of that time left behind....

in the main hall of the old asylum. This floor was once used as patient rooms, now administration offices

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month and this is a topic very dear to my heart. When I'm not blogging and being all vintage fabulous, I am a support staff for people with developmental disabilities.

 I drive them home from work and help them prepare meals. I pass their meds, help with chores and we laugh and tease each other. We go out to movies or for ice cream or to the mall. At home, I remind them to do their laundry and chores.  At bed time, I make sure they are comfortable and happy and tell them to have a good day tomorrow.  We have training to properly care for these people, to support them through good days and bad. We respect them and treat them the way that they deserve. But this wasn't always the way.

"11/20/1951: Modern methods of electro-convulsive therapy, used to shorten periods of depression, are applied here to patient "Abbe" who has been committed to a mental hospital for emotional stress."

Quite recently, people with developmental disabilities were abandoned in an institution where they were heavily drugged, abused and neglected. Electroshock therapy, ice baths, experimental medicine....those things really did happen.  Before my current place of employment, I worked at a place that prior to 1963 was called an "Asylum for the Epileptic and Feeble Minded"  I touched an old electroshock therapy machine from 50ish years ago stored away in the attic. I went into a tiny room with a hole towards the ceiling to shove food through and sat on the floor. I peeked through a key hole and saw a padded room with a bed with restraints.

 I was friends with a beautiful old woman who was dumped off on the steps because her parents couldn't take care of a deaf child. Another woman told me about how she was so heavily drugged when she arrived there (in the 60's) that she couldn't walk or see clearly. These places included ages from children to the elderly with various mental illnesses and developmental disabilities. Dangerous patients without proper diagnosis and medication were mixed in with people with autism or mental retardation. Doctors of the time didn't understand disabilities so when these people had a behavioral outburst that could have been helped by an understanding, kind person to talk to, they were locked up or tied to their beds and drugged.

Today, that old asylum that I worked at is a home for people with developmental disabilities. The people are well cared for, loved and respected. They have their own bedrooms and belongings and freedoms. Some have families that come visit them and they have opportunities to have jobs, day programs, hobbies and their quality of life is put first. Staff are trained to help them in their times of extra needed behavioral support.


wooden spools from the attic- the ladies used to love to make quilts when they were younger. Although I sew all the time, I keep these spools just as the ladies left them. 


I am thankful to live in today's world where we understand illness and disabilities and that we have laws in place to protect people. Sadly, abuse and neglect still happens but now, people with developmental disabilities have a lot of people working as their advocates to see that they are treated with dignity and respect and that they have rights.

Photograph by Richard Avedon. Mental Institution #21, East Louisiana State Mental Hospital, 1963

I worked at that place as a cook for the day program for a few years before quitting my job to stay home and have a family. Leaving those people that I loved was one of the hardest things I have ever done. They made me laugh and drove me crazy and they taught me these things:

People who use wheelchairs are wonderful dancers
People who cannot speak tell amazing stories
People who cannot hear understand music and voices
People who cannot see have a view of the world that we could never even imagine

All of these people have hearts.

They see what you do. They hear what you say. They feel.
So make them feel wanted, appreciated, valued and loved.

Forever young by Camil Tulcan

My poor husband. I found another piece of vintage furniture that I couldn't live without and being the dear that he is, he picked it up and brought it home for me. It was quite an ordeal too. We borrowed my sister's station wagon since we drive a sedan but it was too wide to fit. So, we drove home, got some paracord from his doomsday survival gear, returned to the house and he strapped it to the roof with his awesome former-boyscout knotting abilities. Pj, you're the man!

Bing Crosby percolator, starburst dishes and mid century platter

 I re-arranged the living room the other day and now have my computer desk by the window and have a big open space on the other side of the room. I went to Craigslist to window shop for a love seat or something to put over there and in the process, I found this killer china cabinet.

About My Collection
I set it up this morning, with my vintage dishes and such. Most of my collection comes from thrift stores or etsy (as the Bing Crosby percolator was found).

The glass owl paper weight was from my Great Grandma's collection. When she passed away a few years ago, my mom, aunt, sister and grandma divided the collection up amongst us girls. I have quite a few scattered around the house. They always make me smile because although my grandma said herself that she "never cared for whimsy" she sure had a lot of big-eyed birds in the house!

The silver dishes were a also inherited. My great grandma Mar Mar decided to pass on treasures while she is still here to see the recipients enjoy them and tell the stories behind them. These silver dishes are from her collection. Her husband gave her a new piece of silver every Christmas. They were married when she was just a teenager and loved each other every day until he passed a few years ago. Now, she gives the silver to married ladies in the family for Christmas, my mom, my sister, my aunt and myself.



 It was being sold as a set with a really beautiful dining room table and chairs but since I already have a darling retro dinette, the seller agreed to split it up.


Although I was looking for a piece of living room furniture, I decided to put the cabinet in the kitchen in the dining room area, to replace an awful old shelf that I'm not crazy about.

I love tacky souvenirs like this bamboo Florida platter, thrifted a few weeks ago

Our house is set up so the kids can run a large circle from their room, through the kitchen, through our bedroom and back to their room again and since the dining room area is on the stampede path, I'm thankful to have my vintage dishes in an enclosed cabinet. It has great storage for crayons, puzzles and coloring books in the bottom so the kiddies can do crafty things in the kitchen while I cook.