Category Archives: Latina

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.

Evolution of Music

These cats are cool.

Pentatonix- Evolution of Music

Talent is much appreciated.

Happy Mushpa’s Friday!

♥♥♥

-Mensa

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 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

“When you grow up as a girl, the world tells you the things that you are supposed to be: emotional, loving, beautiful, wanted. And then when you are those things, the world tells you they are inferior: illogical, weak, vain, empty. The world teaches you that the way you exist in it is disgusting — you watch boys cringe backward in your dorm room when you talk about your period, blue water pretending to be blood in a maxi pad commercial. It is little things, and it is constant. In a food court in a mall, after you go to the gynecologist for the first time, you and your friend talk about how much it hurts, and over her shoulder you watch two boys your age turn to look at you and wrinkle their noses: the reality of your life is impolite to talk about. The world says that you don’t have a right to the space you occupy, any place with men in it is not yours, you and your body exist only as far as what men want to do with it. At fifteen, you find fifteen-year-old boys you have never met somehow believe you should bend your body to their will. At almost thirty, you find fifteen-year-old boys you have never met still somehow believe you should bend your body to their will. They are children. They are children.“

—Stevie Nicks

A little Stevie knowledge never hurt anyone.

— Mushpa

First Flickr and Now This?!?!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDiAD9ezW48&w=420&h=315]

Mensa getting ready for the Apocalypse with a bull’s eye, not bad. :]

Yes my friends we are kicking up our social media game lately. Here is Mushpa y Mensa’s new fun filled YouTube Video Channel where we showcase our how-to videos, La Mushpa y La Mensa having fun, going on amazing adventures, mini documentaries, hilarious hijinks, and whatever else we are moved by.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAlzEqUgYRI&w=420&h=315]

18 meters back I am the only woman to make the target and 1 out of 3 to hit it at all. :] I’m just sayin’ ;-] Apocalypse here I come!

For your entertainment there will also be a million playlists of sweet jams, serious segments, comedy, save-the-world videos among many others. Be ready for the Mushpa y Mensa visual art experience.

Much love,

Mushpa

Flick This!

August 15, 2013Clothes, crafts, Cuban, Ecuadorian, Etsy, Fashion, Jewelry, Latina, Lesbian, Photography, Queer, Stuffed AnimalCara Reynolds, eco-friendly, etsy, facebook, flickr, gay, handmade, homemade, instagram, lesbian, love, Maria Emilia Borja, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa Y Mensa, organic, plush animals, queer, The Market NYCtdaait

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.

With so much love!!!

– Mushpa

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