Category Archives: Green

Don’t Eat Your Food Dyes!

If your food dyes don’t come from naturally derived sources, we say it’s better to keep them off your body! If you still have some around…then….

DO AN ART PROJECT!

1. Find your colors and add hot water to a container or sink.

Food Dyes for crafts mushpa y mensa

2. Add vinegar or salt or any other mordant to make the dye stay on the fabric.

Food Dyes for crafts mushpa y mensa

3. Dip the shirts in and let the fun begin!

Food Dyes for crafts mushpa y mensa

We played around with different colors and techniques, but it gave us a definite hippy tie-dyed look! Totally ….

Food Dyes for crafts mushpa y mensa

You can let the shirts sit in the dye anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. This was an experiment for us, so  the results will come in soon!

Food Dyes for crafts mushpa y mensa

And this is what our stomachs might look like when we drink the Kool-Aid… gross!

So don’t…

Use your old dyes on things that won’t die!

-Mensa

Before January ends….Re-Calendar!

In the time it takes you to get in your car, subway or bike to the office supply store to buy a calendar, you can easily make a calendar for the new year yourself! For free if you have the supplies, and Eco if you reuse old paper and use supplies from home!

mushpa y mensa

We did this half way through last year, and last week we took the old calendar down, flipped over the old pages and drew new lines for the new days and months of the new year!

Steps.

1. Find any 18×10 inch paper or card-stock. We had some around, and it turned out to be the PERFECT size.  You can make a smaller too, just make sure you divide it in 7 equal parts for the days of the week.

2. Using a ruler, mark off every 2 inches on every side, and draw vertical and horizontal lines to make the little boxes. This size was perfect for 7 days (each day was 2×2 inch squares) and it left a nice (2×4 inch space each week) for additional “notes”.

mushpa y mensa

3. Mark the days of the week with a marker, and while LOOKING CAREFULLY at a calendar (I looked on my phone) mark the days down when the month starts, through its end.

4. Add some colors and decorations….and any special dates you may wish to remember….and you’re done! : )

Happy crafting!

-Mensa

Mushpa y Mensa’s Project Clean House 2014

 

mushpa y mensas clean hosue project 2014

I begin this year starting fresh with my posts, as I know that in December I was not keeping up with my partner in crime Mushpa’s amazing word press posting skills and motivation.

Here I will start by telling you that it was necessary for us to start the new year with an amazingly clean and organized home. For the past few days Mushpa y Mensa have re-energized our apartment, thrown out unnecessary trash, given away unused items, and said good bye to old memories, to make space for the journeys of the new year!

———————————————–

My favorite project so far has been re-organizing the kitchen cabinets. We used old jars of pasta sauces and pickles, and  we cleaned them and re-labeled them in order to super organize everything from baking soda and stevia, to oats and chia seeds.  We also bought spices sold in bulk so we refilled empty spice jars, and re-labeled others for new spices! You don’t need anything fancy to make the labels…only card-stock, pen and tape…and voila!

JAR LABELS DIYJAR LABELS DIY  JAR LABELS DIYJAR LABELS DIY

Here are some good tips on what a good New Year Cleaning might be deserving of.

1. Kitchen: Clean all the cabinets inside and out, above and below…. and give away any unused cooking items. Our street-found iron pan, an old recipe book, a coffee grinder and random containers were among the items we left in a brown bag for people to pick and choose from at the entrance of our building.  Some people’s “trash”, other people’s treasures! Reduce, and someone else will most definitely reuse!

2. Bedroom and Studio: We cleaned and are almost finished reorganizing our studio and bedroom, yet one really important aspect of the process was to get rid of (and RECYCLE of course) all old paperwork that only took up space. Sometimes little mementos are nice to keep, and we do so in a small box in our bedroom where later on in they year they will probably be compiled into a scrapbook. Other papers/old pictures/brochures/receipts and such are in the “out” pile. It might seem crazy, but the house feels lighter without these items cluttering everywhere.

environmentally friendly cleaning product

3. Clean clean clean: And I mean clean….everything. I even vacuumed inside the stove stop where my hand and sponge couldn’t work. The best part of this is that you DO NOT NEED any harsh chemical products to have a clean home. We used our trusted Vinegar + Water + Peppermint Oil concoction for every surface. Works like a charm, and it smells nice too.  For the very touch stains, grease grime and soap scum, we use our trusted Bon Ami cleaner. It only has 5 ingredients including limestone, feldspar and baking soda derived from sustainable resources that won’t harm our earth!

Now our home feels lighter with better energy to start a new year. A few good prayers with incense and candles burning will add the perfect touch to the amazing energy that circles our home….

From our clean home, we wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Happy into the New Year!

 

Much love,

Mushpa y Mensa

 

No Shipping??? Say What?

Gingerbread People Ornaments made from Recycled Plastic Bottle Felt

Yes, these cute, limited time only, eco-felt, naturally holiday scented (peppermint or cloves), so delicious that someone has already taken a bite off of their cute head and leg, Gingerbread Peeps tree ornaments, are coming to you free of any shipping charges from us here at Mushpa y Mensa. Not only are these little guys postage free, but everything in our shop is as well. Sadly, this fabulous sale ends December 31st, so get it while you can! :]

LIC Flea & Food Holiday Market

What you want another way to get free shipping? Come see us @LIC Flea & Food Holiday Market.  Not only do you get free shipping, but you can touch, see, smell, love everything before taking them home. You can feel the magic in person! :]

What? There’s more? Pictures with Santa? Yes. A fafillion artisans and culinary masters? Yes. Live jazz, DJs? Yes. The New York Cosmos soccer club (NASL Soccer Bowl Champions)? Again, yes. Bowling, Christmas trees, beer, wine and cocktails? Yes*5.

Just come!

Mushpa y Mensa

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

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

The Healthiest Dessert: Tofu Chocolate Pudding!

The yummiest, and healthiest dessert you will ever eat….

And you can make it in less than 5 minutes.

chocolate pudding tofu

-1 package of Silken Tofu

-1 tablespoon of sweetener (We like Stevia/Truvia. Adjust if you want more or less. I started sprinkling and kept adding until I reached about 1tbsp.)

-2 tablespoons of powdered cocoa (adjust as well…I started sprinkling and mixing until chocolatey goodness was reached)

-1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Mix all ingredients in a food processor or blender….and boom! That’s it.
It was so good, that I realized that I should probably take a picture after I had finished it all!

-Mensa

Mushpa y Mensa’s Super Fly New Site

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

Nice.

– Mushpa y Mensa

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

The Universe

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.

aromatherapy candle lamp essential oil burner

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:

Results

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. :]

My Profile

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.

PledgesGo 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.