There's something about black capris that make me feel extra sassy. I thrifted this pair ages ago and I'm always on the look-out for more. They're comfortable, slimming and go with just about anything. Since I'm in a cheeky mood today, I wore them with some pink and leopard, my favorite combination.


This is another one of my new belts from Hannah Jane Boutique, the leopard skinny belt in khaki. A leopard belt really is a must-have and I don't know why it took me so long to find one but now that I have, I try to wear it with everything- even when I shouldn't. For those shopping the $5.99 Hannah Jane skinny belt sale, they've extended the sale through till Sunday! Use code VAVOOM at the register.



 Today I took my new Floozy purse, courtesy of Sourpuss Clothing for a spin and I'm totally in love with it! I try to carry a small-ish bag to prevent me from hauling my entire life around with me but it needs to be big enough for the neccessities and a few diapers/wipes for the little fella too. This one is just the right size with a few inside pockets for organization. I I love the sparkle vinyl, bow and matching piping but the best surprise was the leopard print lining.




Stay tuned tomorrow for my over-due first "Shop Talk" post







Va-Voom Vintage is an affiliate of Hannah Jane Boutique. Please see my full disclosure policy

We're back to light and fun things today. I feel like I have really been neglecting my dress wardrobe with this dreadful winter weather but spring is just around the corner and I couldn't be happier! You may remember my post on vintage belts from a few weeks ago. I ordered 4 beautiful belts from Hannah Jane Boutique and have been wearing them with some of my spring time dresses on our recent warm days. I love a simple belt with bold color that you can mix and match with several pieces. My only complaint was that I didn't order more colors when I had the chance!



In case you missed the sale or, like me, wish you would have picked just one or two more basics, Hannah Jane Boutique has brought the $5.99 belt sale back just for us now through Saturday!



Stay tuned tomorrow for another spring look featuring one of my fab new Hannah Jane skinny belts.




Va-Voom Vintage is an affiliate of Hannah Jane Boutique. Please see my full disclosure policy.

Today I'm angry. Really angry. I don't ever blog about politics or religion but sometimes you have to break your own rules so here we go.

Over the years I've heard a lot of silly statements from vintage lovers.

"I was born in the wrong era"
"Thing were so much better in the 1950s"
"That was such an innocent time".

 Behind the image of Coca Cola picnics and gingham sun dresses were terrible moments in human history. Segregation, discrimination, internment camps and genocide. As we all learned from our history books, the eras that we love for fashion were certainly not some wonderful jive and wail soda fountain fest.



I write about this today and share these images because we share a common interest. We listen to old music, watch old movies and wear old clothes but by "living in the past" we must also look to our future. This week, politicians in Arizona and my home state, Missouri have filed legislation that would allow business owners to refuse service to patrons based on religious beliefs. They're calling it "the anti-gay bill" but its so much more than that.


Our grandparent's generation decided that it was okay to separate white facilities from other races. They signed laws to allow the round-up of Japanese American men, women and children into internment camps. A hard working black man could be refused a job because of his skin color.



If a gay couple goes to lunch, will they be refused service? If I go to lunch with my sister and am seen giving her a hug and smiling, could we be refused service because someone thinks we're a couple? Will my Wiccan mother not be allowed to go grocery shopping if the store owner notices her? Will we allow our government to round up families that don't conform to their religious ideas and force them to live in muddy villages under armed security? Regardless of your race, gender, sexual orientation or religion, these decisions impact all of us.

Love the past but live for the future and never let history repeat itself.

Read more on the proposed Missouri bill .  The Arizona Bill has been vetoed and you can read more about that here. While it's a victory for civil rights, it also took a lot of money and power to make it happen, which is sad. I hope that we all keep a very close eye on these kind of events and that by writing letters, signing petitions and speaking out for what you hold dear, everyone does their own part to make history.

Good morning! I feel like it's been a while since I've been here. Our weather in St Louis has been so beautiful lately that I have used every waking hour to get out of the house or prepare my home for the coming spring. As I've posted on Instagram, the kids and I did some running around this week, picking up some colorful new kitchen gadgets and I've been wearing big hair and cotton dresses. My new swimsuit from Walmart came in the mail yesterday and I'm all excited to set up our little back yard pool and take the kids to play in the river in a few months.



Spring is always a time of great change for me. As I have previously blogged about, seasonal depression has me down from November to February so by the time March arrives, my notebook is bursting with ideas and to-dos. One to-do that has been on my list for a while is to mix it up a bit with my sponsored blog posts. In my new monthly "Shop Talk" post, starting tomorrow, we will check out my wonderful blog sponsors, talk about what's going on elsewhere and get some style inspiration for next month. I may add some slideshows, videos or mini e-zines throughout because I love visual pretties.

Also, for those of you who have subscribed to my monthly newsletter, I skipped both Jan and Feb newsletters because life was so crazy around here but they will resume again in March so keep an eye on your inbox for that! I have some very pretty spring hat patterns to share with you.

The blog will be getting a pretty new design in the next month as well and I'll be organizing and labeling everything a little better. Blogs need spring cleaning too, right?

All of your feedback on the upcoming changes (or changes that you'd like to see) are always  appreciated!! Anyway, here's some recent snaps from Instagram and we'll be back tomorrow with our first Shop Talk

Belts are the one accessory that I always have trouble finding. I love cute prints, bold colors, sweet details and a great price but they're so hard to find in my size. This morning, I took advantage of the big belt sale at Hannah Jane Boutique and picked up 4 skinny belts for under $25! I have wanted a leopard print belt for so long and at $5.99 each, I couldn't resist.




 I also picked out a basic red and green belt, which have been missing in my wardrobe for quite some time. Back and brown are easy enough to find but those fun colors can be a problem.


Since spring time is around the corner with fun full skirts and girly dresses, a pink bow belt jumped into my cart too. 


 Hannah Jane belts come in one size so you can trim them down if needed. I can't wait for them to arrive! The Hannah Jane Boutique skinny belt sale is going on now till Valentine's Day. Use code BELT50 to get the $5.99 price on all skinny belts plus free shipping



Disclosure: Va-Voom Vintage is an affiliate of Hannah Jane Boutique. Please see my full disclosure policy.

This afternoon, we were relaxing in the house when it started to snow. The living room and dining room have floor to ceiling windows on all sides so we could see the country snow scene from every angle and I said "It's like living in a snow globe!" It just so happened that Papa Gecko was next door, putting the finishing touches on a hayride wagon for the little ones. He bought the lumber yesterday and built it to fold up flat for storage, with bolts on the outside so none of the grand kids would bump against a pointy bit on the ride.










We're planning many wagon rides for the kids, with the next being an easter egg hunt all over the property with different points to stop at and hop out for eggs.

This week, the kids and I are visiting my parents at their homestead, Aelfheim in the Meramac River valley in Missouri. The property is off a small country road, surrounded by thick forests dotted in open pastures for cows and horses to graze. Aelfheim is right next door to my Grandma's country home, Frogbird's Farm. There are wooded trails, a pond, meadows overgrown with Missouri wildflowers and a big barn. We've spent many summer and autumn weekends here but this is our first time in the country when it's snowy.




In the afternoon, mom and I had a little lunch, then joined grandpa and the kids outside to explore all of the beauty of winter. As I've previously written, winter is always a difficult time for me and I often dread the slush, grey skies and biting temperatures but being here reminds me that winter has unappreciated beauty. The last time I was in this meadow, it was so hot that the grasses crunched under my boots. The brush chirped and moved with frogs and huge grasshoppers. This time, I see things from a much different point of view.







I walked alone through the silent meadow, picking samples of different plants for a winter bouquet





The kids screeched and ran around the front of the barn, pelting grandpa Dan with snowballs and mom and I followed a few different sets of tracks- a rabbit, a few deer and maybe a fox or coyote





Mom headed up a project to make a snow lady to feed the many varieties of birds.

Lately, I have been lusting over knee-high, flat heeled boots. Being a tomboy, I've always been a boot-wearing kind of girl, hiking through the woods and walking along the creek by my house. I was recently contacted by Gipsy Dharma and immediately fell in love with their exquisite boot designs, like something from mythology or a fairy tale. After my post on vintage style boots this week, I'd love to see how these beauties look with a vintage ensemble.

over-the-knee boots in chocolate brown

A few years ago, while vacationing in Denver, Colorado, I tried on a pair of boots made very similar to these and they were unbelievable! The leather shapes perfectly to your foot and leg and after being broken in, they're like a second skin. The rubber sole is so flexible, it's as comfortable as running around in socks but with the protection of a shoe.

plum knee high leather boots

Gipsy Dharma boots have a beautiful lacing system that allows the boot to fit your leg like a glove with a side zip on the inner leg. They are made of quality soft leather with leather laces. I was really struck by the natural look of these boots, with leather lacing and no eyelets.

                 apricot croco print knee high boots                             mint green knee high boots

 For more about Gipsy Dharma boots, check out their FAQ and About pages

Gipsy Dharma hosts weekly giveaways for an amazing pair of boots of the winner's choice from available stock. Enter this week's giveaway for your chance to win! 

 Also follow along on:   Facebook     Pinterest       Twitter         Blog

Gipsy Dharma is a sponsor of Va-Voom Vintage. Please see my full disclosure policy 

This is not remotely vintage related but I'm excited about this so I had to share. Very recently, I've become obsessed with bento lunches, as you may know, if you follow me on Instagram.  Last spring, I posted my facebook page,

"Who else thinks the adorable bento lunches all over pinterest are crazy? They look super tasty and are very cute but who are these people that have time to make kitten shaped sandwiches with carrot whiskers? Maybe I would be one of them if I spent less time on facebook...hmmmm...."





My kids are not what I would call picky eaters but they have some less than desirable eating habits. They're snackers. They eat some tiny amount of food every half hour all day. They're always hungry, I'm always making something in the kitchen and no one sits down for full meals.
Drives. me. CRAZY!

So, last week, I made a bento-style plate lunch with things I had around the house. I cut some fruit and veg into shapes and made sandwiches that look like bunny faces with baby carrot ears and they both sat down and cleaned their plates! I couldn't believe it. They never eat sandwiches and they certainly never clean their plates but they did it.






I found a local market that has a very small selection of bento supplies so I bought a few things to tide us over till my online order arrived. I can't stand the waste of disposable products but they make reusable silicone cups, silicone food dividers and everything washable so I can buy it all once and be done with it. The only bad thing about making bento lunches is that the kids are having so much fun, they want bento boxes for every meal of the day! Now that we're wasting less food and eating more meals, I guess that's not a bad problem to have...and I even enjoy hand-washing all of the cute little picks and shape cutters.




Next week, I'll share some of the bento lunches that my kids have been enjoying along with some bento tips and where to find affordable supplies for your lunches. In the mean time, check out my Pinterest board, "Bento" for inspiration

UPDATE: the Upcycle Exchange is now closed

In December, we drove to downtown St Louis to check out The Upcycle Exchange. They were having a vintage fabric tag sale so of course, I couldn't miss it!

The Upcycle Exchange is an epic crafty wonderland. You fill a basket and pay what you want to pay. Obviously, they do provide an estimate of what customers generally pay for things to keep people from abusing the system but you can fill a basket for $20-$50+, depending on the value of the items. If you just need to grab a few things, they can easily provide a value estimate of a small pile too!

photo via The Upcycle Exchange

The craft supplies available are often brought in from other crafters and include beautiful fabric scraps and yardage, fine boutique yarns, vintage buttons, jewelry bits, old keys, maps, antique baskets, knitting needles, sewing patterns, scrapbook stuff, ribbon and the general kind of stuff that every crafty girl hopes to find at a flea market or estate sale. You can also bring in your left-overs for store credit, check the wish list to see what kinds of items they accept.

photo via The Upcycle Exchange

For the vintage tag sale, they had a big table of beautiful vintage linens, scarves, aprons, sheets, fabric pieces and quilts priced from $2-25 each. I must have been one of the first people at the sale because I came away with some incredible prints, mostly in the $2 range but a few table cloths for $3-5 each.


The curtain panels- I'm a sucker for a good curtain panel. You can do so much with them, even a small valance.




The Barkcloth- oh the barkcloth!! These pieces are only big enough to make a purse or pillow or something very small. I kind of like hanging on to them and lusting over the prints. This first one is speckled in gold





The table cloths-I bought these to use as tablecloths. Some of them had small holes or light stains, which is perfect for a daily-use thing for me anyway!



I also found some vintage craft books while I was there. I don't drive to the city often but for this, I may need to make an exception! The original St Louis location is at:

3206 South Grand Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63118



*Va-Voom Vintage is not an affiliate of The Upcycle Exchange or its sister stores. I just love this place!!*