Category Archives: Environment

Into Eternity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2OKY00fmWY

Mensa was thinking the other day what will it be like in the future. More so what will people think of us in the future? What we have done to the earth is deep. We have created high-level radioactive waste that will survive 100,000 years. We are responsible for our trash and our trash will affect people beyond a time frame we can truly comprehend. This film, Into Eternity, which you may watch in its entirety above, it is not only informative, eye-opening, etc, it is also visually stimulating…so beautiful.

Funny, we just stumbled upon this movie right when we were talking about the environment and future. Universe. :] Here is a preview of the film to reel you in.

Let’s keep our trash to a minimum please.

– Mushpa

Go Green, Live Rich

October 9, 2013Activism, Cuban, Ecuadorian, Environment, Green, Homemade, How-To, Inspiration, Latina, Lesbian, Queerallergy remedy, amazon.com, carbon calculator, carbon footprint, ceramic aromatherapy essential oil burner, David Bach, earth conservation plan, earth lab, earthlab, earthlab.com, ecp, eucalyptus oil, Go Green, Live Rich, miracles, myrtle oil, rosemary oil, tea tree oil, universecara007

Mensa and I are blessed by the Universe daily. It occurs so often we sometimes take for granted all the little miracles happening all around us. We were talking about it last night, about how we need to acknowledge them, recognize them for what they are, validate and appreciate. :]

For example, I was thinking the other day after picking up some eucalyptus, rosemary and tea tree oil* for Mensa’s allergies that we should start doing some aromatherapy. It reminded me when I was the body care buyer for Whole Foods and was in charge of buying essential oils. The reps gave me oils to sample and some really nice ceramic aromatherapy candle essential oil burners. I have no idea where they have gone over the years, but I thought we should get one and get back into it. The next thing you know I get a text from Mensa with this photo below.

She had found this ceramic aromatherapy essential oil burner on the sidewalk, clean and in prefect condition. The funny thing was I had never even mentioned that I was thinking about this. Little things you see.

Then we were walking around Brooklyn the other day and found some books. One of them was, “Go Green, Live Rich“, by David Bach. Green, check, rich, not yet but lets see what he has to say. Rewards for doing the right thing sounds good to us. :]

The first chapter is about measuring your carbon footprint. The site David Bach recommends is www.earthlab.com/createprofile. I went and set up a profile and answered their questions. My results are below:

It’s nice if you set up a profile because then you may calculate your ECP (Earth Conservation Plan) and see what the averages are in your area, state and country. I’m super competitive. :]

Lastly, you may set up pledges to do more amazing things in your life. You start out checking what you already are doing and then from there grow.

Go hard or go home.

– Mushpa

*These particular oils are good at clearing you up. You can include myrtle oil but it costs a fortune, 30 something dollars for 15ml, so we skipped that one. Plus, you can only find it online, even in NYC. As a quick aside this is what you do to help with allergies, fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, take the pan off the stove top and add 3 drops eucalyptus essential oil, 3 drops rosemary essential oil, 2 drops myrtle essential oil and 2 drops tea tree essential oil. Tent a bath towel over the saucepan (keep your face just far enough away from the steam to avoid burns) and inhale deeply for 5 to 10 minutes. Repeat 1 to 3 times a day.

Free 99 Cents Shelf

September 23, 2013Art, crafts, DIY, Environment, Etsy, Gay, Green, Homemade, How-To, Inspiration, Latina, Lesbianart, Cara Reynolds, DIY projects, handmade, love, Maria Emilia Borja, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa Y Mensa, rainbow shelf, refurbished furniture DIY, shelf, spray painted furniture, trash to treasuresMaria Emilia

Sometimes we drool over the furniture on the street. Ok, correction. I drool over the furniture on the street and Mushpa tries to convince me not to bring trash into our home, and be a bit more…what shall we say, selective?

When we have more space, we will be bringing in all sorts of furniture to re-vamp and re-furbish, and potentially sell in our shop as well! This goes back to our idea of making things “from scratch”. On our 100th Blog Post we tried to explain our approach to doing things from now on. If we have the tools to be able to make it, then why not try to do it ourselves? Here is a perfect example.

This is one of the pieces we found a block down from our home. We decided that if it was still there when we came back from our walk, that we would take it in.

We needed storage, and we got some for free! With a few left-over spray paint cans, we painted it and now it looks fantabulous on our studio!

Thank you Mushpa for this one!

: )

-Mensa

Free 99¢ Shelf

This is one of the pieces we found a block down from our home. We decided that if it was still there when we came back from our walk, that we would take it in.

We needed storage, and we got some for free! With a few left-over spray paint cans, we painted it and now it looks fantabulous on our studio!

Thank you Mushpa for this one!

: )

-Mensa

The End of Summer

September 17, 2013Art, craft, crafts, Environment, Fashion, Green, Small Business, Womenart, Cara Reynolds, eco, eco-friendly, fashion, flip flops, green, handmade, lesbian, Maria Emilia Borja, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa Y Mensa, ocean sole, recycled, recycled flip flops, summertdaait

Well my friends it is the end of the Summer of 2013. I hope for all it was a fantabulous one! I know for us here at Mushpa y Mensa it was inspiring and wondrous! This entry goes out to those who are looking to do something creative with their old flip-flops of summers past. Check out this video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzHUwmrOpFE&w=560&h=315]

Thanks Ocean Sole!

– Mushpa

The 100th Post of La Mushpa y La Mensa

September 11, 2013accessories, Art, craft, crafts, Cuban, DIY, Ecuadorian, Environment, Etsy, Fashion, Gay, Green, Homemade, How-To, Latina, Lesbian, Photography, Queer, sewing, Small Business, Stuffed Animal, T-shirts, Woman Owned Business, Women100th post, artist, Cara Reynolds, diy, etsy, fashion, from scratch, gay, handmade, home-made, homemade, lesbian, love, Maria Emilia Borja, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa Y Mensa, organic, plush animals, queer, recycletdaait

Mensa and I are always talking about consuming less, needing less, getting rid of excess. Things that anchor us to one place be it literally, monetarily or mentally.

We do little things like take our worn out old clothes, wash them and then cut them into a million little pieces to stuff our Plush Pets…

Plush Rabbit — Pierre, the Lavender, Recycled Fabric, Eco-Felt Plush Pet

…or make some deeelicious seitan from scratch, while whipping up some organic, coconut oil based mayo… I personally am extremely gifted in mixing alcohol with almost any “leftover” liquids (frozen or flowing) and it tasting like nothing you’ve ever had before (in a very good way).

Some bigger things are Mensa creating an amazing backpack out of an old bag, after her million year old bag disintegrated right before our very eyes. The very backpack we packed with soy milk (something we have talked about learning how to make since we consume so much of it…stay tuned) and such this weekend after working in the co-op (don’t ask). We biked over 8 miles and this revitalized beauty made it through like a champion!

We also made our fantastical Mushpa y Mensa cloth sign out of old pillow cases and fabric pieces. See below…

Mushpa y Mensa Sign — Mushpa y Mensa – Arts Not Crafts!

We are making it happen more and more every day, but we need a challenge….something to keep our momentum soaring towards our destiny. What we came up with is…well let’s start slow, why don’t you get to know us first…see what we mean when we say “from scratch”.

From the Inside — La Mensa’s Robot Girl With a Twist

We are here for a reason, all of us. Let’s make some stuff together, see what we think, then figure something out. Let’s connect as they say, in a good way.

This is our 100th blog post and the start of something gargantuous! :] Life, as La Mensa would say is, “pretty bad-ass.”

– La Mushpa

More Name Cards!

September 10, 2013Art, crafts, DIY, Environment, Gay, Homemade, How-To, Latina, Lesbian, Small Businessarts not crafts, Cara Reynolds, handmade business cards, handmade stationary, Maria Emilia Borja, Mushpa Y Mensa, original name cardsMaria Emilia

At the Mushpa y Mensa studio making more name cards!

We are still making them by hand and each one will be unique like the other. This time we are making the process much more efficient so we can spend less hours making them (at least five hours each set before) and spend more time, as Mushpa would say, crafting other amazing art!

With love,

Mensa

Sketches of Lavender-Stuffed Animals

August 22, 2013Art, crafts, Environment, Etsy, Homemade, sewing, Stuffed AnimalCara Reynolds, conscious kids toys, lavender, Maria Emilia Borja, Mushpa Y Mensa, process, sewing, sketches, studio time, stuffed animalsMaria Emilia

How do we do what we love to do?

This is how it starts…..

Working hard at the Mushpa y Mensa studio!

-Mensa

Mini-Sewing….A Teddy Bear From Scratch

August 8, 2013Art, Clothes, crafts, DIY, Environment, Homemade, How-To, sewing, Stuffed Animalart, bear, Cara Reynolds, diy stuffed animal, family, kids sewing machine, kids sewing pattern, Maria Emilia Borja, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa Y Mensa, recycled, refurbished materials, reused, sewing with kids, teddy bearMaria Emilia

I went to visit my family this week in VA, and of course there had to be craft time with my small siblings. What better thing to do than sew a stuffed animal with Isabela’s mini-sewing machine!

It’s no industrial serger, nor does it even come close to stitching zigzag or reverse stitches….but it gets the job done! It was actually trickier to figure out that my own machine! After getting to know it though, Isabela, Abuela and the rest of the crew (aka Juan Lorenzo) sat around the dinning room table learning step by step how to make a little bear.

Steps we took.

1. Isabela sketched out a simple drawing, including the fabric that she would use for the body, tummy, ears and face or her bear.

2. We drew a simple pattern for the bear and she cut it out and pinned it to the fabric. She cut the fabric and began to pin the pieces together.

3. We found some old clothes, y la Abuela helped us cut out pieces of scrap fabric to use as stuffing for the bear. We also heard stories of la Abuela’s first sewing machine, which was operated by foot, and later adapted to sew with a small motor inside. : )

Then the sewing began….

It got a little tricky at times, but Isabela got the hang of it pretty quickly.

4. Finally we found some nice smelling tea leaves to stuff in the bear to give it a nice smell, and she closed and hand-stitched the body and head together. Y listo!

Isabela made a bear, and Juan Lorenzo filled the cushion with pins and “sewed a tomato!”

If you mold kids minds, and teach them how to make their own toys, dolls clothes and whatever else their minds come up with, you will be surprised with what they can do! I was definitely impressed.

: )

-Mensa a.k.a. “Memi”

I Say, Stay In Air!

August 5, 2013Art, crafts, DIY, Environment, Gay, Homemade, How-To, Latina, Lesbian, sewingAC crafts, Cara Reynolds, draft stopper, easy crafts, handmade, lesbian, Maria Emilia Borja, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa Y Mensa, rice in crafts, summer crafts, thick fabric, winter craftMaria Emilia

EASY PEASY!!!

So a really easy and fast way to make a draft stopper for when you have the AC on and you don’t want it to leave the room in the summer, or you are stopping the chilli air from coming in into your warm home during the winter months.

Here’s whats up.

1. Find a long thin bag. Like a newspaper plastic bag. I got mine from staples where they stuff large prints in thin plastic bags. Fill it with rice and knot it/tape it on the ends.

2. Measure around and trace a handmade pattern on a sturdy fabric that will not rip easily. I re-purposed fabric that I am using in my backpack project. A rectangle is straight forward and easy, so you won’t mess up.

3. If you want, use a larger stitch (around 4) so you can flip it and see if it fits in your case. Once fitted, sew over the stitch with a smaller stitch and finish it off by sewing the ends and VOILA!

Like I said…Easy peasy!

-Mensa