With the 4th of July celebrations this weekend, I wanted to share a classic 1950s burger recipe from one of my vintage magazines. This one was called "Hamburger Specials", which is a burger pattie stuffed with onion, wrapped in bacon and topped in melty cheese.




2 pounds ground beef
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs
2 tb Worcestershire sauce
1 onion thinly sliced
1 pound bacon


mix beef, eggs, bread crumbs and wor. sauce in an adorable vintage pyrex bowl.





separate the mixture into 16 meatballs. To do this, I split it into 2, split those 2 into 2 and so on.

form 16 patties. set an onion slice in the middle of 8 patties.


put a pattie on top of that and seal the edges to make a total of 8 onion-stuffed burgers



wrap each burger in a slice of bacon because everything in the 50s was wrapped in bacon.



you can grill or bake these little babies. To bake, set the oven to 375 and bake in another adorable pyrex baking dish for about 30 minutes. The burger will sizzle in the bacon grease as it cooks and its so goooood!! I read in one of my housewife books that if you put a slice of bacon under your meatloaf, it won't stick to the pan and that also works with these burgers!




If you grill the burgers, keep a close eye and a beer on hand because that bacon likes to try to catch on fire! Ours got a little crispy on one side so I think we'll stick to the oven method.

If you have extra bacon left over, you can bake it in the oven on a cookie sheet with the burgers for 15 minutes or till it's done to your liking. Serve it for burger/fry topping or save for bacon bits in your potato salad.

top with cheese, lettuce and whatever other fixin's you like and enjoy!

Last Saturday, we met a few local vintage loving girls from the St Louis Vintage Enthusiasts Group at the Vintage Bliss Market at Westport Plaza. This was a new event and quite a fantastic turn out! They had over 50 vendors, live music, balloons and face paint for the kids and a ton of shoppers. Rhys was a ninja turtle and when that face paint washed off at the end of the day, he was absolutely broken hearted!

 

There were not a ton of clothes but we did find some spectacular home decor, accessories and handmade things.




I found these raffia tumblers, fab shower curtain and a vintage dress for Olivia. I also picked up this beautiful 1940s booklet on typefaces and advertising








Whoever organized the Vintage Bliss Market did a really fantastic job. I hope that they have it again next year!! If you're from the St Louis area, do join our meetup group, we'd love to see you!

I have a neighbor lady two doors down who loves to share treasures from her back yard with us. A few weeks ago, she brought a box turtle for the kids and the next day, a huge toad! She came by yesterday afternoon to tell me that we must stop by and pick cherries that night before the birds haul them all away. She has a beautiful old cherry tree in her back yard and every summer, she sets out a ladder and bucket with an open invitation via her gate by the alley to all who want to share in her tart little jewels. She knows how much my little ones love fruit and veggies so she saves the low branches just for them.


 
 
We filled an entire bucket with translucent red cherries and I swear, it doesn't look like we even made a dent! Her tree is so bountiful that she still has bags of cherries in her freezer from last season. Although they're sour, Rhys and Olivia love to sit with a big bowl of cherries and small bowl for the pits and devour them fresh. I'm not wild for cherry pie (I'm a peach or key lime girl) but I found some other recipes for sour cherries that sound fantastic. I think the kids and I will be making a batch of sour cherry brownies very soon!

Dark Chocolate Sour Cherry Brownies from Bake or Break
Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt from Lottie + Doof
Chocolate Chip and Sour Cherry Cookies from Coconut and Lime
Sour Cherry Lemonade from Martha Stewart



Do you have any favorite recipes for sour cherries? What are you picking this summer?

Fixing a hole in a pool or summer inflatable is easy. Finding the hole is a different story. Instead of throwing the item out and buying new, here's a simple thrifty tip to find and repair the hole and save more money for fun this summer!

Our little 1930s home has a small back yard but we recently re-arranged and made the most of our cozy space with a swing, easy-set pool and my own little corner to sip lemonade and watch the kids play. We set up our pool a few weeks ago, a little early- but it's been hot in St Louis. The next day, the top ring was deflated. Even with the cover on the pool, I had been spotting some cheeky birds leaning over for a drink and I bet at night some larger critters tried to climb up and cool down. Those pokey little feet and claws are no match for the plastic.

Bummer.

For an hour or more, we scoured the ring for holes, unable to find any. We listened closely, felt around, even pushed the ring into the water to see if any bubbles popped up. Pj laughed, "Maybe we should fill it with water and see where it leaks out!"  The neighbor offered up his air pump.

Finally, we found two smart and easy solutions that you have in your kitchen right now and you won't believe how easy it is- plastic wrap and dish soap!

Plastic Wrap

Inflate the ring as much as you can and rip off a good sized sheet of plastic wrap and dip it in the pool so its wet and clings easily to the ring

Lay it over the ring and smooth out the air bubbles. If there is a hole, the plastic wrap will get a big air bubble in it. Simply slide the plastic around the ring till you've found the culprit. Make sure to check the under-side of the ring as well, those tiny holes could be anywhere.



Dish Soap

Soap up your hands with a high quality dish soap. We tried an inexpensive off brand but it didn't bubble enough so I switched to Method (Method cucumber is the best dish soap in the land!) and once you have a good lather, give the ring a thorough rub down. When you hit a hole, the air coming out will blow bubbles in the soap.


After searching for holes for a week, these two fixes found our holes in minutes and we were back to splashing and laughing the next afternoon and having our scheduled pool party with the cousins on the weekend. Never let a pesky bird foot ruin your pool party again!

The temperatures are climbing and long summer days are upon us. This week, I've sent all of my heavy sweaters and wool skirts to the back of the closet and make a little list of summery items that I'm on the look out for this season. 

I've been almost exclusively wearing easy cotton dresses and cat eye sun glasses lately. Here are a few of the many cuties available from Cats Like Us.

Cats Like Us is a fab retro clothing boutique stocking the best in repro and rockabilly style. For great deals, be sure to check the sale and under $20 sections. 

Bloomers and Frocks has been listing lots of rare vintage shorts and summer staples. Before this summer, I haven't worn shorts since I was a kid. I have a weird feeling about anything above my knees but I finally broke and bought my first pair of bermuda shorts.  They're great for running errands, chasing the kids around and they're really cute with a light peasant blouse.



If you can't find any shorts in your size, you can certainly sew your own in denim or light summery prints. Here are a few darling shorts patterns from Patterns from the Past


Modcloth has a ton of darling summery shoes on sale right now. Since my ankle injury two weeks ago, I've been stuck in my crocs and flats but since it's on the mend, I have my eye on these cuties with a little more of a heel. I had to have Pj hide my purse to keep from ordering these red wedges. They're only $27.99!




Another important summer staple for me is my makeup. The weather in St Louis is extremely hot but also humid so makeup kind of runs right off your face around here. I've put my red lipsticks away in favor of coral and sheer pinks, which I'm loving with my new red hair!



My favorite summer lipstick is Besame Carmine but I also love Portrait Pink. Have any of you gals tried their cake mascara? I do like a really thick lash but the natural look and removing with water might be really nice for summer!


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Husbands of bloggers really should have a holiday of their own. Pj does so much to help support this blog and honestly, if it wasn't for his help, I would have never started writing Va-Voom Vintage. He takes my outfit pictures, wrangles the kids while I do tutorials, helps me figure out technical things and encourages me in my projects and writing. He restrains me from throwing the computer out the window when it's giving me trouble and stays up till the wee hours helping print last minute business cards before a conference.

RedEnvelope celebrated the men behind the blogger with Father's Day and they contacted me recently to choose something special for Pj for all of the wonderful work that he does.

RedEnvelope is the go-to website for high quality beautiful gifts and best of all, everything comes lovingly gift wrapped in their signature red box. Pj was so surprised when he got home to find this gorgeous box with a big white grosgrain bow waiting for him.



Pj is a man of many unconventional hobbies, which makes shopping for him really fun. He brews beer and wine and makes cheese. He's a leather worker, blacksmith, gaming nerd, bookworm and outdoor adventurer. Most often, he comes home from work after a crazy day and loves to unwind by cooking. He makes gorgeous breads, creamy sauces and the absolute best tirimisu that I've ever had. For his gift, I chose a Himalyan Sea Salt block. I've never heard of such a thing but it was so pretty and unique and I knew he'd get a kick out of it!



This natural salt is found in the Himalayan mountains. You can use it for grilling, curing, stove top or oven cooking and even serve ice cream on it! Any food served on the plate will take on the rich natural salty flavor. It's re-usable and will eventually crack and break, to be used as table salt, brine for cooking or sprinkled in a hot bath.



For our first salt block experiment, Pj grilled shrimp skewers, which were wonderful!

You wouldn't think that a big chunk of salt would be such an awesome gift but he couldn't stop raving about how cool it is! He even had to snap a pic to text to his mom.


I was so happy with Pj's gift that my sister and I picked out a beautiful personalized beer pitcher for our step dad for Father's Day. I included a personalized card and had it delivered to him before he left town to visit his dad on Father's Day. Mom called me as soon as the truck pulled up and he was absolutely thrilled with his new pitcher and the exquisite quality. Mom texted me a few photos right after he opened it.


Thanks to RedEnvelope for perfect Father's Day gifts for my fellas!



*Disclosure: Salt Plate provided courtesy of RedEnvelope. Va-Voom Vintage is not an affiliate of RedEnvelope. All opinions and reviews on this blog are my own*

For those who don't follow on Instagram and Facebook, I colored my hair red late last week. I had red hair for a while through middle school and high school and I really love it.


   
Speaking of things I love, I recently discovered that I live like 20 minutes from the Tatyana Outlet store! Tatyana was formerly Bettie Page Clothing. I heard that they opened a Bettie Page outlet in the area ages ago and I finally stopped in a just before Memorial Day. I don't usually buy repro because it's ridiculously priced but they had a huge sale so I picked up this dress and a really cute sailor style top for less than $30. If you come to St Louis, be sure to stop at the outlet.



Oh, I'm rocking the ACE bandage because I slipped on the side porch last week after spraying some sun block on the kids. I came in the house to grab their swimsuits and after spraying that stuff on the kids there was slippery residue on the porch. One leg went one way and one leg went the other! I thought I had broken something for sure but it's on the mend and now everyone gets the sunblock spray in the grass.



This weekend, we're taking the little ones on their first camping trip so stay tuned for that plus how to make bacon and eggs in a paper bag and easy camp fire breakfast donuts!

PicMonkey just announced on their blog today that users can now access all of their own fonts and use them with Picmonkey! That's right, download a zillion of your favorite gorgeous fonts and use them to make blog buttons, Pinterest pins, memes and whatever you like.



Simply go to the text tool and you'll see a button for "ours" and "yours"

Today I want to show you all how I salvaged my damaged lipsticks.

My kids are tiny lipstick destroying ninjas. They sneak to my vanity, open the drawers and can demolish 6 lipsticks in .5 seconds. They know the trick for child safety locks, latched train cases and even if I keep them on a high shelf, they somehow manage to get their hands on them. Luckily, I tend to buy cheap lipsticks as it is but I hate to throw away a week old tube just after its been smashed, with all of that perfectly usable product still inside the lid and tube



I picked up a 7 day pill organizer from the dollar store on Friday and rescued the remnants of my favorite lipsticks. Here's how



Scoop the chunks of lipstick from the lids and tubes...or lumps left on the vanity table after an ordeal and scrape them into the separate compartments, making note of which lipstick went into which compartment. I started with Thursday and lined them up in order as I went through them all


Microwave the container with the lids open 30 seconds at a time until everything is melted. I nuked mine for 1 minute.



clean up the edges with a q-tip and label the compartments. I used washi tape from my stash but you could use printable labels, stickers or contact paper.

• If you have any leftover bits still left in the tube, you can microwave the tube (as long as there's no metal in it of course) and pour it into the compartment.

• If you have very little product left, mix colors for a new shade

• Use a small brush to apply color from your new lipstick compact collection

See my other tutorial for How to Refill a Vintage Lipstick Tube

one more very important tip- If you have a lipstick covered child, Walmart and Target carry a great oil free makeup remover for a buck or two- good to keep on hand. In a pinch, vegetable or olive oil followed by a warm bubble bath will take it right off.

A few weeks ago, Olivia came with me to the vintage shops and wanted to try on and touch everything in sight! She decided that she wanted some "bintage" of her own so I let her pick out a skirt that she could wear with her summery peasant blouses.

Later that week, I found my vintage kids sewing patterns and we picked out a pattern for a dress to make for her.



I used Simplicity pattern 2930 with some Heather Ross Underwater Sisters fabric from my stash. I bought this fabric before Olivia was born, to use in her nursery. I had some left over and had been waiting for the perfect time to use it.



I used some vintage buttons from my stash for the back.

Since kids grow so quickly and a lot of effort goes into sewing clothes, I wanted her to be able to wear this dress for more than one summer. I made it a little big in the waist but it ties in the back so the extra fabric gathers in the skirt when its tied. I also allowed a deep hem to let the skirt down as she gets taller.



I really loved this pattern and will probably sew another for her if she likes this one. I did not like the scallops....at all! The pattern instructs you to fold over a tiny edge of the scallop and somehow press it to get a perfect professional looking curved edge. Yeah, that wasn't happening. Instead of burning the hell out of my fingers and ripping the stitching out over and over,  I cut out another piece just to fit the scallops, sewed them right side together, clipped the curves, turned out and pressed, then hand-stitched the scalloped edge to the dress front. It was time consuming but hand sewing is so relaxing and the finished results were well worth it.