An email that made my day! Thank you Etsy buyer!
This Mexican Folk Art milagro cross has sold, but a larger one like it is available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
This email is like poetry!
....dear Kennedy
...I remembered when my children were small...celebrating....unwrapping...their gifts....
...I watched how the box that the gift was in got so much attention...they tossed and twirled it about with great fun!
...I so get it!!!!
...today..the milagro cross arrived...in a box.....mexican loteria...playing cards...I was distracted... :}
...ok..eventually I did get to jesus...and must confess...it's a wonderful unique gathering of milagros...
...thanks
...I remembered when my children were small...celebrating....unwrapping...their gifts....
...I watched how the box that the gift was in got so much attention...they tossed and twirled it about with great fun!
...I so get it!!!!
...today..the milagro cross arrived...in a box.....mexican loteria...playing cards...I was distracted... :}
...ok..eventually I did get to jesus...and must confess...it's a wonderful unique gathering of milagros...
...thanks
As a recovering hoarder, this is the kind of email that makes it so much easier for me to let go of some of my favorite things. This is a vintage handmade Mexican Folk Art milagro cross from the early 90s and it has some unique milagros on it, like the ship and fly.
I've been collecting milagros since the early 80s when I went to the Mengei Museum in San Diego and saw an exhibit of Mexican Folk Art. One of my favorite things was a huge banner of red felt with thousands of these tiny milagros stitched on to it with bows of ribbon and thick threads. It was just a glorious sight for my heart and eyes!
Handmade Loteria boxes, available here
photo via The Destiny of Things
I shipped in a box made from loteria game
boards and she love that too! So happy! How fun to get so distracted
with the gift wrapping! that it brings back such good memories.
Speaking
of memories, I had a childhood friend, who saved her wrapping paper
and even the tape! She would spend many minutes trying to get each
piece of tape off the wrapping paper without tearing or damaging
either. Then she'd fold up the wrapping paper so carefully on the folds
and keep her bows and ribbon on a cut paper plate with a circle cut in
the middle to make a bouquet.
This Mexican Folk Art milagro cross has sold, but a larger one like it is available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Saying Goodbye: I will miss this piece and most of Mexican folk art, but due to allergies to dust, I can no longer have tons of hoard hanging about to keep around dust free, so I am happy this has found a new life and happy home!
My Mexican Folk Art collection was or is still huge, but at least most of it have found new lives and homes, thanks to Etsy!
Mexican Folk Art Milagro Cross made by me, it's vintage now! Available here
This is my version of a milagro cross that I made for myself to help turn my black thumb into a green one and it worked! There are many reminders on this cross for me, like the snail at the bottom is for me to take my time and the bench at the top is to remind me that I can enjoy and savor the natural time of nature.
photo via The Destiny of Things
What I Learned:
1. I didn't make the connection until today, but I think this little milagro cross inspired me to make my own back in the day around the same time period.
After seeing the Mexican Folk Art Exhibition at the Mengei in the early 80s, I was so obsessed to find milagros and back then, they were very difficult to find. I remember I would fine a few here and there at little Mexican shops in San Diego and once I found over 100 on ebay a couple of years later, but they were called pot metal charms or something and had found them by accident.
I still have my collection of loose milagros and my milagro necklaces, which I think I have over 12 various types of necklaces, which vary from sterling to pot metal to clay with ribbons. Not sure what to do with those yet. I hope they are still in my hoard.
2. I also made a Lover's Promise Milagro Cross for my brother and he found his true love and married. They are still married to this day too! He returned it to me, saying it was my turn. I have since found my true love too!
It's made from some very large milagro hearts and sterling charms too!
Milagro Lover's Cross, available here
I made this so the hearts on the side spin and some of the milagros and charms move when you touch them. This has all sorts of meanings in it too!
photo via The Destiny of Things
3. My hoard of milagros from ebay are sitting pretty in a drawer waiting to be used. I can't seem to get myself to use them, since they took so many years to find. I've only used one of the ebay milagros when i made one boro textile mixed media art brooch for my mom for Mother's day and that's been it. Nothing more.
Of course, I spent days trying to figure out which milagro was best for my mom and in the end used the leg milagro because my dad used to say that my mom had the best legs in town!
4. I just got an idea! Maybe I'll start adding the milagros to my loteria card art for nichos and ofrendas!
Here are some mini loteria art cards, perhaps in my next batch of loteria card art, I'll add milagros to them. How fun and more meaningful!
These are the smaller, more mini loteria card art for nichos and ofrendas, available here. Photo via Hoarder Rehab
5. Milagro means miracle or surprise in Spanish and are religious folk charms that are traditionally used for healing purposes and as votive offerings in Mexico the southern US, other areas of Latin America, and parts of the Iberian peninsula.
They are frequently attached to altars, shrines, and sacred objects
found in places of worship, and they are often purchased in churches and
cathedrals, or from street vendors.
Milagros come in a variety of shapes and dimensions and are fabricated
from many different materials, depending on local customs. For example,
they might be nearly flat or fully three-dimensional; and they can be
constructed from gold, silver, tin, lead, wood, bone, or wax.
5. I have some milagros from the Philippines and they are much larger than the ones from Mexico and are made from brass and wax. I also have some sterling, bone and copper milagros from Mexico, besides the usual pot metal ones I have in the hundreds, perhaps thousands!
The leg milagro brooch is the one between the rock cube and the green rock. Some of these pieces have sold, but two or three are still available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Thank you Etsy buyer from Hoarder Rehab for leaving me such an exciting and happy email this morning, so fun and inspiring. I think I might be able to let go of more of my Mexican Folk Art now and will need to go diving into my hoard to find them! And perhaps decide what to do with my milagro and fetish necklaces.
Oh my, I just remembered I do have a small stash of Native American fetish necklaces too some where in my hoard of hoards!
Also, thank you for bringing back some good memories to me too and so happy you found some old memories and will be making new ones with "your my our" small milagro cross.
Thank you Etsy for the best Hoarder Rehab
ever! And for all the kind people I'm meeting who are helping me
indirectly and directly in so many ways with my Hoarder Rehab! I've been gleaning so much insight about my hoarding ways!
Thank you readers from all over the world who continue to support my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things by taking part with your visits!
Thank you readers from all over the world who continue to support my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things by taking part with your visits!
This cross is made by Claudio Jimenez and is signed by him on the bottom. It is made from all the natural things of Peru, like gypsum, agave juice, etc and he uses paintbrushes he's made from his cat's hair and cactus needles. His art is in the Smithsonian, the Santa Fe Folk Art Museum and the San Francisco Folk Art Museum.
It is available here. Photo via VintageToGoEasy
I'm still in a little rut and not quite sure what I need to do to get out of it yet, but I'm relisting daily and hopefully will new list items this week.
Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily and/or weekly: HoarderRehab with 177 items, The Destiny of Things- 176 items, VintageToGoEasy - 181 items and JunkDrawerAndMore - 168 items.
Maybe you'll find something to adopt and share your story too! Thanks for looking!
A large sterling 4 inch heart milagro or ex voto wall decor, available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Related Stories:
This is a sterling Mexican Folk Art traditional lasso wedding necklace and afterward, one would collect milagros to add to it. This one has sold, but I have several like it. Let me know, if you are interested and I'll list it ASAP.
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Thank you for taking part in my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things!
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