Category Archives: Etsy

Happy Two Days After Thanksgiving Save Money Day From La Mushpa y Mensa!!!

Art, craft, crafts, Ecuadorian, Etsy, Gay, Green, Latina, Lesbian, Organic, Queer, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What can we say, after an amazing bounty of family, food and fun we are in a good mood and want to share that happiness with our Mushpa y Mensa family. What does that mean? Free shipping until we ring in the New Year!!! Nice…

Who are these little guys? They are a perfect “Bring the Cheer” gift you can find right here, right now. Our brand spanking new, limited time only, eco-felt, naturally holiday scented (peppermint or cloves), Gingerbread Peeps (GBP). They are so delicious that someone has already taken a bite off of their cute head and leg! Each one is unique in their own way. GBP are all made by hand, hand-stitched, hand-stuffed and such, right here in our Brooklyn studio.

tablet case

We also have new iPad/tablet cases and gorgeous pillow cases all handmade using recycled fabric. Theses are fabulous, unique gifts…we’re just putting it out there. :] Something else exciting to look out for in the next few days is our handmade, out of recycled fabric, super fly coffee cozy!

Pillow C

If you are in the New York area and want to check out our art in person Saturday, December 7th and Sunday the 8th and Saturday, December the 14th and Sunday the 15th we will be at LIC Flea & Food @5-25 46th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens. It’s indoors in a huge warehouse, free parking! :] There will be all sorts of vendors, food, live music, djs, Santa…so come.I think that is enough updates for now.

Chau!

La Mushpa y La Mensa

Mushpa y Mensa’s Super Fly New Site

accessories, Art, Clothes, craft, crafts, Cuban, DIY, Ecuadorian, Environment, Etsy, Fashion, Feminism, Gay, Green, Homemade, Inspiration, Jewelry, Latina, Lesbian, sewing, Small Business, Stuffed Animal, T-shirts, Woman Owned Business, Women, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mensa y MushpaCheck out Mushpa y Mensa’s super fly new site (beta style), www.mushpamensa.com.

Nice.

– Mushpa y Mensa

Free 99¢ Shelf

Art, crafts, DIY, Environment, Etsy, Gay, Green, Homemade, How-To, Inspiration, Latina, Lesbian, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

reburbished furniture DIY

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.

reburbished furniture DIY

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!

diy refurbisehd shelf

Thank you Mushpa for this one!

: )

-Mensa

Free 99 Cents Shelf

Art, crafts, DIY, Environment, Etsy, Gay, Green, Homemade, How-To, Inspiration, Latina, Lesbian, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

reburbished furniture DIY

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.

reburbished furniture DIY

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!

diy refurbisehd shelf

Thank you Mushpa for this one!

: )

-Mensa

The 100th Post of La Mushpa y La Mensa

accessories, 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, Women, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jefe Helping
Jefe Helping…

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).

Drinks on Me
Cocktails Anyone?

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!

The Bag
The Bag That Rocks

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

Flick This!

Clothes, crafts, Cuban, Ecuadorian, Etsy, Fashion, Jewelry, Latina, Lesbian, Photography, Queer, Stuffed Animal, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Ladybug
Ladybug Love

We here at Mushpa y Mensa had an Instagram (which is owned by Facebook), but decided like Facebook, it is a tantamount waste of time and a way for a large group of people to convince others that their lives are more exciting, interesting, happier than going out and making it true. Not only that, but people should be aware how Facebook makes most of their money is by selling your information. Not through ad clicks and charging people with business pages money to have their posts reach ALL their “Fans” and “Friends” as you may believe.  Listen, I want to live my life not spend hours stalking others’ make believe life or promoting my own better than reality life. Been there, done that and every time it left a bad taste in my mouth. Thanks to Mensa pushing us we have been Facebook free for almost a year now and I have yet to miss it. Not surprisingly, I accomplish much more without it, so to my friends who tell me things like, “You would have known I was out of town if you had a Facebook“. I say call me, email me, hangout with me as I am never going back!

Next, people are always asking us if we have a Facebook so they can “Like” the Mushpa y Mensa page or link back to us. When we answer no they seemed shocked like for sure we will never be a success without Facebook or it will be soooo much harder. I find that to be a misnomer. We have already had movie stars, a big time movie producer and a composer of modern day operas among multitudes of other amazing human beings love and buy our art in the last 8 months since opening. We believe in ourselves, our art and the idea that if you do the work and right thing the Universe will always reward you and thus far it is working. I have asked other people with businesses and Facebook pages how much business it has generated for them and the results are nil to nothing. That says more to me. Honestly, you can’t use something bad to achieve good, that’s just the way it is.

Let me stop and get to the real point of this blog entry. Maria Emilia and I want to be able to take pictures and post them somewhere instantly, link back to them in our blog posts and document our journey through photographs of the making of Mushpa y Mensa, without using Instagram, so how can we? Flickr!!! Yes, ladies and gentleman we have a Flickr account now full of our fantastical photos!!! :] There are photos of our amazingly unique organic tees, of the fleas, fairs and markets we’ve worked, photo shoots, crafting, us and whatever else our little hearts desire. Go look at it and tell us what you think? I am so excited!

Never forget in life there is always a workaround, so don’t get stuck.

Such Love

With so much love!!!

– Mushpa

Out with the Old…In with the Re-vamped!

accessories, Art, Clothes, crafts, DIY, Environment, Etsy, Fashion, Gay, Homemade, How-To, Latina, Lesbian, sewing, , , , , , , , , , , ,

So my backpack was on its last strides… I have had it for seven years and it has served me well. It had been to many places around the world, including little towns in Italy, many Christmases in Ecuador, and it carried everything from heavy college books, community organizing flyers and papers as well as our regular weekly groceries. She was definitely a trooper.

So now I need a new backpack…. And what better way to keep it real than to bust one out yourself! So instead of buying a bag, I’ve decided that I will make it! Not from scratch, BUT I will re-vamp a small bag I had,. I’ll add  a couple of pockets, new heavy duty straps, a new flap with velcro….all done with my little hands!

So far it’s been a challenge. I didn’t think it would take so long….but it is not as complicated as it seems.

I had the foundation….

DIY Backpack

It’s a backpack with “ugly grandma fabric” but I think it is still very cute. I exchanged it with my sister in a clothes swap. It had a funny zipper an the straps were broken down from so much use.

DIY Backpack

I measured everything and sketched out a drawing of what it would look like with approximate measures.

The seam-ripper was my best friend for a couple of hours….while I un-did the previous straps, the zippers and the lining in order to have full access and revamp all the necessary details.

DIY Backpack

Since I had the foundation, I cut out patterns for the POCKETS, the FLAP, and the STRAPS. I didn’t use an offical pattern for the pocket or flaps, and I instead free handed the drawing making little updates as I moved along! I did use a pattern online for the straps through, and drew with the measurements given the two straps using newspaper.

DIY Backpack

I cut out all the main pieces and placed them with pins to see what it would look like…. it’s resembling something fancy now!

DIY Backpack

Using some bias tape, and an old pillow case for the lining, I finished the main flap, and the small pockets…. and so far its looking good.

This is the first update, but I will post the finished product once I am done this week.

Mushpa and myself have been having conversations about a bigger and better project in relation to this backpack. We have been asking ourselves…. Why not make it?

If I need a backpack….and we have the capable hands and tools to make it ourselves, then why not make it!?

It makes sense, right?

Now on to the finishing this beauty….

Until next time!

-Mensa

 

 

Here’s To Making It

Art, Clothes, crafts, Cuban, Ecuadorian, Etsy, Fashion, Gay, Lesbian, Queer, T-shirts, Woman Owned Business, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Maria Emilia and Cara Elaine

What you want to spread the word about out amazing, magical shop of art? No problem, here is a blurb that you may post away on your Facebook if you so choose…

Mushpa y Mensa, is a small eco-boutique that moves around the city’s outdoor (& at times indoor) markets, advocating for local, eco-conscious, women-owned, queer-owned, small businesses all over the world, and of course to spread our art, messages, laughter, & love! We (Cara Elaine (Mushpa) and Maria Emilia (Mensa)) hope people see we love what we’re doing (making a living selling our art), and get inspired to make small changes in their lives. Small moments become large movements.  Mushpa y Mensa is a small team with really big dreams.

Come check out our cute shop here: www.mushpamensa.com

Wanna tweet some love as well? We’ve written something for you…

Small moments become large movements. Mushpa y Mensa is a small team with really big dreams. Come check us out http://www.mushpamensa.com

No, but seriously thanks to everyone that has supported us over these last few months. To family, friends and the multitudes of strangers we’ve met and not one of them we haven’t genuinely liked. People who have really made us feel good about our decision to do something different, doing what we love for a living.

Here’s to making it.

– Mushpa y Mensa

Happy Photoshootin’

Art, Clothes, craft, Cuban, DIY, Ecuadorian, Etsy, Fashion, Gay, Green, Homemade, How-To, Latina, Lesbian, Photography, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A nice afternoon, two cold and delicious ginger lemon cocktails, a bright colored wall, some nice shirts and your everyday fire escape was all we needed for an amazing photo-shoot.

easy photoshoot

To make something beautiful pop even more, I really feel like you only need a couple of essential things. And that’s all we used:

 Amazing light, music, and a nice camera…

easy photoshoot

Here’s a sneak peak to our latest photo-shoot….

easy photoshoot

cute….

easy photoshoot

boom!
-Mensa