Happy new year ladies. I hope that your holidays were spectacular. I know mine were full of magic (mostly that of my two year old, the best kind). There has been quite a lull at the bank, but things have been picking up quite steadily. Some serious momentum has been gained with regards to deposits, decisions and discussions. Intrigued? Good. On to the good stuff.

***
Pads in Limbo

Cherries Heavy/Night Pad by Homestead Emporium can be viewed here: http://clothbank.net/node/1088 Currently it needs more than just an acceptance vote. It also needs a majority decision for price and what account to deposit the shares in since it is a donated pad.

Medium Flow Bamboo Pad by Homestead Emporium can be viewed here: http://clothbank.net/node/1105 Another donated pad that needs help deciding which account to deposit the shares.

Embroidered Heavy Flow Pad by Dalya of Thatpinksack! can be viewed here: http://clothbank.net/node/1117A very generous third donation needing votes for price and accounts.

Green Floral Flannel Pad can be viewed here: http://clothbank.net/node/1126 And yet another donation to the bank needing direction.

Please head over to the bank and vote. Even if majority votes have been tallied your input is encouraged. The more we know from our members the more we can do to ensure a healthy pad 'economy'.

***
Recent Inventory

'Starry Night' Light Pad by Monday Mornings can be viewed here: http://clothbank.net/node/1112
'Plum Garden' Medium Pad by Yurtcraft can be viewed here: http://clothbank.net/node/1110
'Our Lady of Guadalupe' Light Pad by C-Pop Commodoties can be viewed here: http://clothbank.net/node/1071

Come have a look at the pictures, I would take them all if I had the shares for it!

***
Decision needing voting on:

Emergency Shares for a New Mama; A mama who has pads, but no postpartum ones has applied for emergency shares. The vote (and/or discussion)on how many (if any at all)shares to give her can be found here: http://clothbank.net/node/1118

Should we standardize shipping? This issue can be discussed and voted on here: http://clothbank.net/node/1043

Eliminating the taxes the vote: http://clothbank.net/node/1073

Please go vote on and/or discuss these issues. Much like pad submissions, the more input we have from our members the better this place is for us as members to use. Your input is important it really is.

***
Open forum discussions

A discussion about a new emergency funds application (which can be found here: http://clothbank.net/node/1108) is posted here: http://clothbank.net/node/1109

***
One other thing to mention is the new catalog and shopping cart system, which makes it quick and easy to buy stuff out of the bank. It's also possible for any member to add their own items to the catalog, but you don't get paid up front for them unless you go through the normal deposit-a-pad process and get your items voted in. This page has the updated nitty gritty: http://clothbank.net/faq/23

***
And that is the business end of this letter ladies. Once I get back into the swing of things I will bring more levity and links to the letter again. For now, there is lots of content to read and click and vote on.

Thanks for all your participation.
Missy aka Greenhomemaker
http://untilwednesdaycalls.blogspot.com/

Manage Your subscriptions

To subscribe via livejournal, go here: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/clothbank/profile and add Clothbank to your friends page.

To subscribe via google/yahoo/other, go here: http://clothbank.net/taxonomy/term/32 and click the little orange button.

Hi everyone!

I hope your holidays are going well. Are you ready for the new year?

Happy birthday today to dda1974, VeryFunnyGirl on the first, and EcoAngel on the 8th. My grandma's birthday is today as well. We're not sure, but we think she's about 36.

I've been installing some changes at the bank, here, while waiting for my next order of thread. We now have a shopping cart system! I hope it will be (I think it will be!) as easy to use as it has been to configure. I haven't put all of the inventory into the new system yet, but the stuff that's listed in the catalog is ready to buy. Come take a look, try it out, let me know if it acts weird! :D

We haven't got any new pads in the bank recently, but we will have some soon. I'm going to buy back some of the Amy's Rag Bag pads that have been in the bank since the beginning of time, and I'm going to buy some new pads to replace them. Let me know if you know of any pads for sale that you'd like to see in the bank, or if you have any that you'd like to sell me for $$. They need to be in new or as new condition with no major flaws.

And again, I played with the color wheel. XD I was going for a nice chocolaty color, but I don't know. Anybody is welcome to come by and tweak it. Like I always say, it's therapeutic.

Happy new year if I don't see you online in the mean time!

Laura

Happy Friday my fellow clothies! I trust your Labour Day weekends were full of friends, family and bbq's! If not, the warm weather is still here (and coming for those south of the equator)and there are plenty of weekends for such festivities.

We saw little activity by way of forum posts and withdrawls but the bank does have five pretty pads to vote on from four different makers I do believe.

Dinosaurs Liner (Unknown maker) http://clothbank.net/node/972
April M. Purple Stars Liner http://clothbank.net/node/967
Claire de Lune Pink Plaid Liner http://clothbank.net/node/979
Claire de Lune Rainbows Liner http://clothbank.net/node/976
Scarlett Moon Medium Pad http://clothbank.net/node/984

Don't forget about the early bird function when voting ladies!

***
An oldie but a goodie:
One day, a man walks into a bar and sees a sexy woman who interests him. He goes over to her and says, "Hey baby, I love you! Let's start fooling around." The woman says "I'm sorry, I can't. I'm on my menstrual cycle." So the man then says, "Well, don't worry, I have a Honda - I'll follow you."

***
Someone who does the math for you, this is a lifetime tampon (or pad) calculator: http://www.pleasurepuss.com/
These are scary numbers!

***
In memory of those who were taken from us eight years ago here is a site that compiles some incredible info from news stories to charities. http://september11.archive.org/

***
I believe that is it for this week. I just wanted to let you know about the pads to vote on and/or withdraw!Please feel free to send us your questions, comments and concerns. You can reach me at the clothbank by clicking on my profile http://clothbank.net/user/29 or by email; missy.w@gmail.com or through my livejournal account; http://caramia.livejournal.com/. You can reach Laura through her profile at the bank http://clothbank.net/user/1 or at her website http://amysragbag.com/.

Until next time, have a great weekend!

Missy aka Greenhomemaker
http://untilwednesdaycalls.blogspot.com/

Manage Your subscriptions

To subscribe via livejournal, go here: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/clothbank/profile and add Clothbank to your friends page.

To subscribe via google/yahoo/other, go here: http://clothbank.net/taxonomy/term/32 and click the little orange button.

Good afternoon my fellow clothies. Back from my near-two-month haitus
(busy as bee this summer it seems) I hope this letter finds you well
and soaking up the last few days of summer holidays for some, the last
few weeks of warm weather for other and for our Aussie friends the
last few days of winter.

Now that the summer months are winding down and autumn is in full gear
we folks here at the bank suspect business will be picking up. And
thanks to some promo at Livejournal we have seen a lot of new faces
here. And with new faces comes the allocation of starter shares and
with the allocation of starter shares comes and application for said
starter shares which can be viewed and filled out here:
http://clothbank.net/node/947 .

Now with that out there, I have an announcement from the staff (and I
use that term loosely) here at clothbank.net:

There are a lot of lurkers out there in the cloth pad world who are
very curious to try cloth pads but they either can't afford to get a
stash started or can't justify spending the money on such a wild
experiment. That's what the Starter Shares Program is all about.
It's a fund that generous bank members donate into to help those
curious lurkers take the plunge and get hooked on cloth pads. It
provides women who have yet to try cloth with enough shares to either
buy their first pad or get the materials to make their own.

With that being said, it should be mentioned that with the influx of
new members applying for starter shares we will need a treasurer.
Whoever takes the job will get an auto-email when someone applies for
starter shares. They will either transfer shares to the applicant,
put the applicant on a wait list if there are no shares in the
account, or email the applicant if they don't qualify (already have
some pads). It would also be great if this person could keep an eye
on the balance and encourage donations when it gets low. To avoid
conflicts of interest, I think it would be best if someone who doesn't
sell pads takes this job. Payment in shares is TBD based on what's in
the tip jar and tax account. You can apply for the job here:
http://clothbank.net/node/30

***
Now, that business out of the way I can link you to the new pads that
have been deposited since our last newsletter.

PIMP Lovebugs print: http://clothbank.net/node/901
Moonflower Kitty Princess: http://clothbank.net/node/920
Moon Pads / Epicerma Blue Flowers: http://clothbank.net/node/927

There are three mentioned here, but there is thirty four more items at
the bank just dying to be withdrawn by you lovely ladies. You can look
for your favourite maker(s) in our alphabetical list here:
http://clothbank.net/node/19 or if you are a more visual shopper you
can shop by photos here: http://clothbank.net/image/tid/51 how easy is
that? You have no excuses now. "But I have no shares!" you say? Well,
look into that stash of yours and share with the rest of us! Share and
share alike my mom always said and you are not going ot tell me that
my mom was wrong are you?

***
For you crafty ladies out there I want to remind you about our wants
and haves section. You can make posts to trade sewing supplies and
notions for bank shares, pads, other sewing supplies and notions and
so on and so forth. For those of you with shares burning holes in your
proverbial pockets you can offer them up for something that you are
looking for. (That was how I recently acquired an envelope chock full
of core materials to try my hand at pad making.) And if you need
shares you can do what Laura did when I traded my shares for the
materials and offer up some supplies for shares. Just a suggestion.

***
I do believe that that wraps up this weeks edition of the Clothbank
newsletter. We will be returning to our bi-weekly frequency as of
today. Please feel free to send us your questions, comments and
concerns. You can reach me at the clothbank by clicking on my profile
http://clothbank.net/user/29 or by email; missy.w@gmail.com or through
my livejournal account; http://caramia.livejournal.com/. You can reach
Laura through her profile at the bank http://clothbank.net/user/1 .

Until next time, have a great weekend!

Missy aka Greenhomemaker
http://untilwednesdaycalls.blogspot.com/

Manage Your subscriptions

To subscribe via livejournal, go here: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/clothbank/profile and add Clothbank to your friends page.

To subscribe via google/yahoo/other, go here: http://clothbank.net/taxonomy/term/32 and click the little orange button.

Enter to win a Clothbank "gift card" good for a free pad of your choice.

You can choose any of the pads in the bank - not just the ones shown below.

See the rest of the pads available at the bank

Rules:
-Post a comment to this post to enter the raffle.
-One comment per person please.

The winner will be chosen with the random number generator in one month, August 13th 2009. The winner will be announce on cloth_pads lj community.

If you have any trouble viewing the clothbank.net website please sign up for a account on clothbank.net to view all pages of the website.

Happy holiday Friday! Most recently the Canadian members of the bank celebrated Canada Day number 142. Always one of my favourite holidays. This year we celebrated in a very low key way in comparison to some Canada Day's prior, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. For those of you celebrating an Independence Day tomorrow did you know that it is number 233? Well, now you do if you didn't. This is the service I provide ladies. :)

Although there is no national pad day, we celebrate them here at the bank. There are six new pads voted into the bank, each valued at four shares each plus shipping. You can view them here:

Item 53 - Modern Acorn Conversation Hearts:http://clothbank.net/node/832
Item 54 - Vaj Pads Blue Owl : http://clothbank.net/node/844
Item 55 - Scarlett Moon Green Jaguar : http://clothbank.net/node/838
Item 56 - Modern Acorn Sweatered Puppies : http://clothbank.net/node/836
Item 57 - Scarlett Moon Faces : http://clothbank.net/node/841
Item 58 - Yurtcraft Bright Flowers : http://clothbank.net/node/847

***
The bank has recently undergone some subtle and not so subtle changes. Some of the less subtle changes is the return of the centile. For those of you new to the bank, in the beginning we had some issues with giving shares centiles for taking percentages for taxes. We eventually adopted a whole share tax system. Laura is wondering if you like the system the way it is or if you would like to go back to the way of the centile. You can give your input (Which is encouraged.) here: http://clothbank.net/node/880

***
Some more menstrual humour;

"Tampax have announced they are swapping the string on all Tampax for tinsel, but just for the Christmas period!"

"Do you know why elephants don't use tampons?
Would you if you had to put them in with your nose?"

Source: http://www.mum.org/humorjok.htm

***

I will leave you ladies with wishes for a happy holiday weekend and a recipe for Fish House Punch from my newly received Joy of Cooking cookbook. The story behind this "potent colonial punch was first formulated at Philadelphia's Schuylkill Fishing Company. Just before the Revolutionary War, George Washington is said to have stopped by for a sample. Some recipes use strong tea instead of water."

Fish House Punch
About twenty 4oz servings
Chill ingredients first, then mix in a punch bowl.
1 1/2 cups sugar syrup (1 cup sugar + 1/2 cup water)
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
1 1/2 cups brandy
1 1/2 cups dark rum
1 1/2 cups peach liqueur or peach brandy
3 cups club soda

(If peach brandy is used instead of peach liqueur adjust sugar to taste)

Cheers,
Missy
missy.w@gmail.com
http://caramia.livejournal.com/

Happy Friday ladies! And what a Friday it is. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and it is a double whammy weekend. The first day of summer (which I personally have been longing for.) and Father's Day! I am excited we are doing a multi-family picnic at a provincial park. The forecast is for sunny sunny times and I couldn't be happier.

***
This week we have six new deposits to vote on and withdraw. They were deposited by yours truly so I do not know the results of the vote, but at the time of this writing some pads had four votes but some only had two. Regardless of votes, you can still vote and/or leave a comment or even purchase through our early bird option. So, without further adieu here are your pads ladies;
Modern Acorn Conversation Hearts: http://clothbank.net/node/834
Modern Acorn Sweatered Puppies: http://clothbank.net/node/837
Scarlett Moon Green Jaguar: http://clothbank.net/node/840
Scarlett Moon Faces: http://clothbank.net/node/843
VajPads Blue Owl: http://clothbank.net/node/846
Yurtcraft Bright Flowers: http://clothbank.net/node/849

***
A little menstrual humour for you ladies. It comes from a Dr. White's tampon ad out of Britain in the 80's. Not cloth pad related, but really quite funny. Here is a link to it here. http://www.mum.org/drwhit87.jpg

And, in case you thought I was advertising for tampons, here is a scary fact: "The National Women’s Health Network, estimate that in the United States alone, over 12 billion pads and 7 million tampons are used once and disposed of every year. They take a very long time to break down and release toxic chemicals into the earth." Frightening numbers!

***
I don't have to much to report this week, so I would like to take this time to pimp my Flickr community Love of Cloth http://www.flickr.com/groups/loveofcloth/ we have 41 members and almost 300 pictures of cloth items from menstrual pads to cup pouches and everything in between. Total eye candy for the cloth pad lover! Come and join us as a member and add your stash photos or just peruse the beautiful wares. I also have a clothbank tag there for photos of pas that are going to and coming through the bank.

***
I am hoping next week to bring you the beginning a series I have dubbed "Adventures in pad making" Which will be interviews with our favourite pad makers and then some more obscure makers who deserve the spotlight on their wonderful items. As a customer, I would like to see more behind the scenes articles with makers, get an idea of what these women go through to bring us our cloth pads and cloth pad accessories. (That was my Hank Hill impression.)

***
Alright ladies, I have some chores to do. I hope you all have an incredible summer solstice / Father's day weekend! And for anyone who cares to check them out here is a link about the Summer Solstice : http://www.chiff.com/a/summer-solstice.htm and the origins of Father's day: http://www.ideafinder.com/guest/calendar/fathersday.htm (The article is a little dry, but neat as I had never looked it up before.)

Cheers,

Missy

missy.w@gmail.com
http://caramia.livejournal.com/

Good day to you ladies. I hope all is well and you enjoyed weekend. I know the weather here was off and on sun and rain. During a rainy break I managed to find some interesting cloth pad and menstruation related articles etc. I have found some neat stuff I tell you. And since this week has been another slow week at the bank, I shall share with you some of my findings.

***
The first couple links I have found are pictures(drawings and photos) of cloth pads through the ages found via http://mum.org .
The first is a German padded belt pattern circa 1900: http://mum.org/waesche.htm
The second are photos of a 19th century Italian washable pad: http://mum.org/washpdit.htm
The third is instructions for making a 20th century Japanese washable pad, successor of the 'uma or pony': http://mum.org/panhomja.htm

The website is visually busy, having a lot of advertising, but if you can get past that is it quite the informative site. Dedicated solely to menses and all things relating. I urge you to spend some time there, but if you do not want to wade through the enormity of it I shall bring you links to pertaining to 'washable pads'. :)

The second link, is a video. Now, technically this is not 'cloth pad' related, as the video IS sponsored by Kotex, but we are all women here and the video is at least a little bit entertaining. It is a ten minute video about menstruation by none other than Walt Disney himself. It is circa 1946 and although they do say the word vagina, they forget to mention sex. But, in their defense the video is about having your period not having sex (reproduction). The first seven minutes is pretty informative, and for those of us who have long been out of school, and a sex-ed class is an even more faded memory I even managed to (re)learn some things. The last three minutes, well, let us just say we should be happy I was not PMSing whilst I was watching it. Regardless, it is a neat little find. You can find the video at Youtube.com here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeT45BELVzY .

***
For those of you who would like to help advertise for the bank, I have these two images which can be taken and used to your discretion or you can cut and paste the code to create image links to the bank. The square image I made as an accompaniment to the bank logo for forum posts such as at Livejournal. I am not sure what embedding images does to the formatting of the newsletter, so for this week I will just link to a public post at my Livejournal for you to pick up the images and codes. You can view the entry here: http://caramia.livejournal.com/142211.html

***
Clothbank's founder Laura (You may know her as the maker at Amy's Rag Bag http://amysragbag.com/) was at the Indie Banditas Bazaar in Seattle this weekend, selling her wonderful wares. I had been holding on to the newsletter so that I could tell you all about her successes in terms of numbers, but Laura could not give me numbers. But I do have a couple anecdotes to share with you;

"...The woman who held one up and said "You would have to be really, really green!" and then came back and bought one later." One pad at a time we can change the world right ladies? :D

"A lot of people were too shy to stick around the table, but I did notice that a lot of my business cards disappeared."

My personal favourite; "Some people were really... startled, especially those who thought at first that the pads were eyeglass cases."

When asked if she would do it again it was a resounding yes. " It was so much easier for the customers to figure it out when they could see and feel the pads, rather than trying to figure out my website, which I am going to be restructuring soon."

All in all I would say it was a success, and you can bet the leftovers will be available for you ladies to purchase and/or withdraw.

***
I would also like to announce that until we have more traffic (likely fall) at the bank, the newsletter will be published bi-weekly instead of weekly. If you have anything you would like to see featured in the newsletter, or ideas for future articles, please feel free to email me at missy.w@gmail.com. And on that note ladies, I bid you adieu.

***
Manage Your subscriptions

To subscribe via livejournal, go here: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/clothbank/profile and add Clothbank to your friends page.

To subscribe via google/yahoo/other, go here: http://clothbank.net/taxonomy/term/32 and click the little orange button.