Category Archives: Flea Market

Mushpa y Mensa Super Summer Update

Hello Mushpa y Mensa Super Fans!

Yes, you see right, it’s Mushpa y Mensa’s Super Summer update, after a few months of silence. We are happy to say that in the last three months, Mushpa y Mensa have begun their “Gypsy Market Life”. Already, on this journey, we have met quite a few amazing people, like the folks at Seaglass Salvage Market, Brooklyn Arts Center, Beacon House Inn, and Satellite Lounge to name a few. We have also danced and tasted many sweet wines at the Duplin Winery’s Main Squeeze Music and Wine Festival, as well as met dozens of new, fun people at the annual Azalea and Strawberry Festivals in North Carolina. ;] We even partnered up with Wilmington’s Earth Day Alliance and enjoyed a wonderful Earth Day Celebration at Hugh MaCrae Park.

It’s been surreal so far.

It’s amazing what faith, love, encouragement, and a little help from our friends can do. In terms of our little cottage industry, we are, as you say, busting a hump. We are constantly checking ourselves on how we can make things better from our art, to our business, to our life.

We have actually just updated the “Photos of Our Peeps” page on Mushpa y Mensa’s site. We added a photo uploading tool, so you can upload pictures of you in our organic tees, wearing our amazing jewelry, hugging our lavender filled plush pets, or even just keeping your hands cool with one of our coffee cozies. :]

And in terms of our Art? Well we keep on bringing to life tons of ideas in our head. For example, we recently created 3.5 new shirt designs. A cool Octopus Olivia with an Anchor Tattoo on her forehead,as well as R6: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Replenish, Reflect, Reimagine inspired by Earth Day.

We also have new organic Pima cotton relaxed fit tops that are flying out of the truck. Here is an example of the Pima tops with one of our new designs, Argema Mittrei, a female moth. Lastly, we spruced up Robot Girl and added a cute heart. All these designs we print for the ladies, the gents, and of course the smallest people around.

Mushpa y Mensa have also been focusing on custom shirts that have been selling off Maya so fast we don’t even have time to list them on our Etsy shop!

Spread the art, spread the love.

A few questions answered…

Where can I find the Art Truck?

Follow us on Twitter @mushpamensa. We are constantly posting when and where we will be. There is also an events page on our site, www.mushpaymensa.com/events we keep updated, but Twitter is best for the most up to date information.

We are doing some art shows, markets and fleas, but are hunting to find good spots to park around town. We are partnering up with cool people like the folks at the Beacon House Inn on Carolina Beach and Satellite Bar and Lounge in Wilmington.

And for all the natives and people in the know, since we are new in town, feel free to hit us up at info@mushpamensa.com or our contact page with any ideas where to park, festivals to do or whether you’d like us to rock a party or event with you!

Are you going on the road anytime soon?

We want to explore the grounds of NC and the surrounding area, so we will keep the max to weekend trips. But worry not, we will definitely be making it into the mid-west and west-coast! Maybe even an occasional trip to NYC sooner than you think!

If you have any questions about anything, make sure to ask! We love to hear from you all.

Until the next super exciting Mushpa y Mensa’s and Maya, Magical Mobile Art Machine update we say good day!

With lots of love,

               Cara and Maria Emilia

                                                             a.k.a.

The Spring Flea @BAC

BAC_1602-spring flea poster-3Guess where we are going to be this weekend… That’s right the Spring Flea at The Brooklyn Arts Center! :]

Renowned as the “ultimate vintage flea” and attended by more than 1,500 shoppers and dozens of vintage vendors from around the region, The Spring Flea is a three-day event that will again be the go-to shopping experience of the season—with a wide array of vintage, retro, and up cycled treasures—and tons of fun, with Wilmington’s finest food trucks feeding the crowds, a coffee shop in the courtyard, and the BAC cash bar serving liquid refreshments.

See you there.

-Mushpa y Mensa

Mushpa y Mensa’s Fall Update

Hello To All of Our People!

We here at Mushpa y Mensa wanted to send out a Fall 2014 update about what’s going on with Mushpa y Mensa’s Magical Motor Machine Makeover! We wanted to let you all know where your gracious support has taken us thus far.

Solar It
Solar It

With the help of Alberto Borja, Mensa’s magician electrician father, we set up the amazing solar powered system to power all the electrical things Maya, our mobile art truck, will need. We installed a 150 watt solar panel on the roof of the truck, hooked it up in a series to two 6 volt golf cart batteries, and did some serious wiring. We did this so we could set up track lights, LED lights, a fan, plus working outlets to charge our laptops and basically work off the grid with the help of the sun! It’s pretty amazing.

Workin' It
Workin’ It

We have become best friends with our jigsaw, circular saw, wire cuter and drill. We cut plywood not only for the electrical set up, but also to put up new walls, and to create different types of storage boxes! We have screwed in, nailed, spackled, siliconed, sanded, painted, painted again, wallpapered and distressed many a thing inside our truck. Our old dashboard got a fresh coat of robotic silver paint, and we built a curvy, new, purple dashboard panel with cup holders!

Making It Happen
Making It Happen

Soon to come:

– installation of floor

– birch poles to hang our shirts from!

– a million little touches

We're Getting It Done We're Getting It Done
We’re Getting It Done We’re Getting It Done

We will be done on November 25th when we get our marmoleum flooring installed. We can’t wait! Just in time to hit up all the Holiday Markets!!! :]

Stay tuned!

Much love,

Mushpa y Mensa aka Cara and Maria Emilia

www.mushpaymensa.com

Go Magazine’s Red Hot Entrepreneurs of 2014

Go Magazine Girls

That’s right, we’re red hot entrepreneurs!!! Read more about it by clicking on this super fly link!

Watch out world here we come! :]

– Mushpa y Mensa

Hester Street Fair Here We Come

2014 HSF POSTERIf you are in the New York area and want to check out our art in person you may!!! Good times!

Where exactly, Hester Street Fair, located in the heart of the Lower East Side and housed on the historic grounds of New York City’s largest pushcart market at the turn of the century, the Hester Street Fair pays homage to those roots by bringing together a collection of NYC’s best vendors in a bustling outdoor marketplace.  They curate the finest artisanal food, vintage clothing, jewelry, crafts, home goods and much more.  ​

Corner of Hester and Essex, take the F J M Z to Delancey F to East Broadway!

See you there.

– Mushpa y Mensa

The Final Countdown

3 Days Left

First off, Happy Memorial Day weekend. It is officially, unofficially the beginning of Summer! This is Mushpa y Mensa’s season of organic cotton, original design, hand-made t-shirt glory! You need a new organic tank top for the season? We’ve got it! We will be in Astoria at the Astoria Flea and Food @Kaufman Astoria Studios (click here for more information) today from 10AM-6PM. Come see us and check out Maya, our box truck in person! We will even have the diorama with us. I know…exciting!

Maya Box Truck

Alright people let’s get to it! We have hit the final 3 days of our Kickstarter project, Mushpa y Mensa’s Magical Motor Machine Makeover! We are 81% funded at $5,971, but our goal is $7,300 in less than 3 days. That is $1,329 we need to raise in a very short amount of time. We can do it, but we need the help of family, friends and strangers. Go check out Mushpa y Mensa’s Magical Motor Machine Makeover and see how we will take this blank canvass of a box truck and transform it into mobile street art. Be a part of something you can brag that you brought into fruition! That alone is worth it. ;]

Much love,

– Mushpa

 

 

Quote and 411

Mohadesa NajumiTruth.

Come see two women who roll like that @LIC Food and Flea today!!! We’ll be here till 6!

Check out our Kickstarter project!

– La Mushpa y la Mensa

Mushpa y Mensa’s Magical Motor Machine Makeover!

In conjunction with “Care-About-Mama-Earth” week we are launching Mushpa y Mensa’s Magical Motor Machine Makeover (a.k.a. Our Super Cool Kickstarter Project)! Yes!

We will make this short and sweet as all the information you may want or need to know about Our Magical Motor Machine Makeover is here. You may also click on our 3 minutes and 33 second amazing docu-drama above to find out what we and this project are all about.  :]

Mushpa y Mensa’s Magical Motor Machine Makeover is something cool, different, and amazing. It is a way to connect with people all over; a way to find, have and give hope to our fellow humans…and there is some fantabulous functional art to take with you as well!!! A win/win situation.

Go see!!!

With much love.

— Mushpa y Mensa (Cara Elaine and Maria Emilia)

Here Comes Mushpa Y Mensa!

Fulton FleaGuess what time it is??? Flea Market season!!! Oh snap, you mean you can check out our wares in person, hang with us, tell us all your deepest, darkest secrets and buy amazing art all under the gorgeous NYC sun? Yes, that’s exactly what I mean!

Such LoveClick here or any of the cute market photos in this entry to see where we will be at, when we are there and how cool it is going to be when you get there. We are even venturing out to that other world called Long Island in May, so if you live on the island and stay out of the city, you to will have the opportunity to chill with La Mushpa y La Mensa! Seriously. :]

We can’t wait to see you.

– La Mushpa

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