HARLINGEN — When people think about retirement, they think of slowing down and taking it easy.
Not Nelda Santillan.
Santillan is a teacher who taught for 33 years until her retirement in 2016 at the age of 58.
Her teaching career started at Coakley Junior High where she taught for four years, then 29 years at Harlingen High School South.
“I was there when it was Alamo (Junior High),” she said.
She now substitutes occasionally but spends most of her time at home working her hobbies.
After her daughters graduated and left home she decided to look into joining the Master Gardeners because she likes spending time outside and enjoys gardening.
She went to a Master Gardeners plant show and came across a woman who was selling a “plate flower” to raise money.
The “plate flower” was made of a collection of various size plates glued together to form a flower decoration for the garden.
She asked how it was made and found she was really interested in giving it a try.
For about two years she researched how to make plate flowers and different techniques on the internet.
By the time she retired she discovered thrift stores and garage sales for supplies.
“I live on Pintrest planet,” she laughed.
Now that she is retired, she also helps care for her brother Joe, 72, who lives alone.
They both work on crafting the bird feeders together and coming up with ideas.
“He’s my partner in crime,” said Santillan.
Between both of them they came up with the assembly process and the techniques they use to build the bird feeders.
“We formed a company and we’re called ‘Sanford and Sister’ because we like to go and find junk and put it together.”
They go to garage sales, thrift stores and flea markets together to look for supplies.
Santillan says she makes anywhere between 15 and 30 bird feeders a month depending on how many things she finds while shopping around.
Her interest in this particular hobby has progressed from creating plate flowers to bird feeders, bird houses, totems, up and up cycling windows.
She says she is lucky that her husband is very supportive along with her daughters and sisters.
She recently took a road trip with her sister Rose who lives in Houston and spent time “thrifting” in Las Vegas.
“We go to Las Vegas every year but I don’t gamble, I got to the Goodwill,” she said laughing.
“It’s really not profitable for me, I just make what I invest,” she said. “I want people to buy them and have them in their houses.”
“I love making them but I can’t keep them all because if I don’t sell them I can’t make more,” she added.
She meets a lot of Winter Texans when she sells at Market Days.
When she asks them where they are from she says they reply, “Oh, your bird feeder is now going to live in New York or your bird feed is going to live in Canada.”
She said she will probably never visit there but her handiwork will be there being enjoyed by others who live there.
“I like that and I like making them,” said Santillan. “I just like to make stuff.”