Back to School: Party Time

Buy 5 PIMP Pads, Get 1 Free!

Exhibit A
One grand disadvantage of running an online store is that I likely will not ever meet the majority of you, nor the folks behind the brands I carry. How disappointing, as so many of the people I interact with on a daily basis seem to be so very fabulous. 

In particular, I have to admit I have a strong affinity towards the ladies at Party In My Pants. The sisters behind PIMP remind me so much of some of my friends from undergrad, it is a bit uncanny. Likely will never have a chance to meet them, but I can imagine I'd have to get one of their fab hats toot sweet!

(Want to get to know them? Watch this quick video...)

Exhibit B
AND they are from Wisconsin (me being a fellow cheesehead here, although I have never had the privilege of owning a proper formed-foam hat).

photo credit Huffington Post

Exhibit C

How many of my IBB-friends use mama cloth? Or maybe you find yourself able to wrap your head around cloth diapers, but not quite there yet with cloth for yourself? No time like the present to give mama cloth a test run!

AND, buying this amazing brand at a discount also offers you a chance to create a small stash of pads for yourself, or maybe your teenage daughter headed back to school. Just add an amazingly discreet storage bag (say, from Planet Wise or PIMP), and you'll have an emergency stash for a locker, backpack, purse, glove box or desk.

How Do I Snag This Sale?

• Simply purchase any five PIMP pads of your choosing (pads must be individual items found on this page, not the prepackaged pad bundles already sold at a discount).
• Mix and match a variety of sizes and fabrics. Free pad will be equal or lesser value to the rest of your order, taking the size and fabric cue from the rest of your order. 
• YES, this deal can be combined with the YUM! sale currently going on. Oh my, the freebie possibilities are seemingly endless!
• Limit three free pads per household. 
• Offer ends Saturday 8/27/11 at 23:59 central.  
• Not finding the quantity of pads you would like? Email me to arrange a special order (this will only add a couple of days to your order). All special order requests must be received by Tuesday 8/23).

Also don't miss, the Chewbeads and Teething Bling sales extended through the 27th!

Hot Pants! aka April WAHMlight

You know me and my WAHMs. I have a serious crush on those who can make both motherhood and career-hood commingle while simultaneously maintaining their sanity and a functioning website. So when I found The Spotted Box last year I went nuts - so many WAHMs packed into such a small space and shipped directly to my doorstep. 

my box's contents

Included in my Spotted Box was a coupon for a free mama cloth liner. I already had a mixture of mama cloth liners, so this wasn't a new concept to me. But the design was. 

Hello Wasabi Mommi Lemon Liner, nice to meet you. 

Very trim while still very absorbent, the Lemon Liner quickly became a favorite in my stash. And once IBB opened I knew Wasabi Mommi Works was a brand that I'd love to bring to more people, and the first WMW products stocked late last year. With stocking WMW came my opportunity to work with Jess, the momma behind those endearing peas of spicy Japanese goodness and amazing mama products! Jess is very sweet and so lovely to work with. And did I mention her products are top-notch!

With that - welcome to the WAHMlight Wasabi Mommi Works! 

Itsy Bitsy Bums: Tell us a bit about yourself. Your family. Your likes. Your dislikes.

Wasabi Mommi Works: My name is Jessica, I was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area. I am married and have two beautiful babies, Lilly and Jonathan.  Before I was a sewing wahm I was a professional henna artist. I did henna for middle eastern and south Asian weddings and was featured in The Washington Post in 2007. I made the switch to a more home based business when I got pregnant with my first. I enjoy crafting of all kinds, and chocolate.

IBB: When did you first encounter mama cloth?

WMW: I first encountered mama cloth while pregnant with my daughter. I found that I had become allergic to the ‘new’ material my favorite sposie brand had switched to. I thought there had to be an alternative! And so, I was cloth converted! 


IBB: When did you decide you'd go into business making mama cloth? How do you come up with your designs?

WMW: I traded for my first cloth pad. I fell in love with Minky at first touch but was dissatisfied with the leak protection that pad provided. I decided I would get out my old dusty sewing machine and try my hand at a more customized shape to fit my needs. I started with a basic outline of a sposie and went from there. I knew I wanted more protection in the back and so the swooped back pads were born! I wanted all sizes to stay consistent so, all ‘wing spans’ of my pads are the same size and shape. I knew I would be staying home with my kids and loved the sizes and shape of the pads I had come up with so much, I decided to spread the cloth love and become a wahm.

IBB: I've always had a serious infatuation with your logo. It is so absolutely darling! How did you come up with your brand name, and the subsequent logo?

‘WasabiMommi’ was a screen name I came up with while pregnant with my daughter. While madly researching pregnancy and fetal growth, I joined a lot of websites and message boards. I wanted a cute, unique screen name I could use everywhere which sported my new title as a mommy. My husband is part Japanese so I jokingly suggested WasabiMommi…and it stuck! The moment I suggested it I envisioned a little wasabi pea mommy and her little wasabi pea baby lovingly looking at eachother. My best friend is a graphic designer and she did a wonderful job bringing my wasabi peas to life for me. I absolutely love them! 


IBB: Any other products in the works at Wasabi Mommi's?

I have been thinking about offering more cloth alternatives geared towards moms. As a new mommy for a second time, I know how hard it is to take some ‘me’ time to relax and take care of myself. Some ideas I have been throwing around are: scented stain remover, various sized wet/dry bags, and aromatherapy eye masks.


IBB: What is your favorite part of being a WAHM?

WMW: I love shopping for fabric! I have a small addiction to hoarding fabric. I am lucky enough to have a small sewing room at home filled with fabrics I have acquired over the years. When I find fabric I really like, I can rarely bring myself to use it on a project. Running a small business making pads, I am able to get the urge to buy awesome fabric (and actually use it) out of my system. I also love that I get to be home with my babies and take the time I need to be there for them and of course, being my own boss.



IBB: Anything else we should know about you?

WMW: I love feedback, questions, comments and suggestions! I try to reward my customers for their two cents! So, don’t be shy! 

Now that you've had a chance to get to know Jessica and WMW.... I know you are just antsy to win some of these fabulous pads! And of course buy a few for your own stash! 

Winner will get $20 to spend on any mixture of Wasabi Mommi pads and liners. I'll contact the winner via email to arrange her order. 

Many ways to enter

• Like Itsy Bitsy Bums on Facebook (1 entry)
• Like Wasabi Mommi Works on Facebook (1 entry)
• Publicly follow Bitsy Buzz (1 entry)
• Go to the store and checkout the Wasabi Mommi pads. Come back and tell me which of the pad/liner styles you like the best. (1 entry)
• BUY Wasabi Mommi items (1 pad = 1 entry)

Be sure to comment on this post, leaving one comment for each entry. Please leave your email address with your comment(s) (I recommend a format spambots cannot farm - with spaces or 'AT' in place of '@' - etc). 

Winner will be drawn the first week of May. 

Did you see March's WAHMlight spotlighting the Lily & Sparrow? You can still enter tL&S giveaway through April 15th! 

ps. While digging for my photo of the Spotted Box's content, I discovered that the same week my Spotted Box arrived I also took this photo of my lovely baby girl (still my favorite to date). If you are on Babycenter's Cloth Diaper board you are likely to recognize it.....

Multi-Tasking Mama Cloth

My lovely daughter likes to help fold laundry. This is a task she's enjoyed for several months now, and proves to always so darn helpful (at least, in her mind). Most times I find her actions entertaining, not to mention I constantly marvel at her growing skill set and desire to emulate us. 

One day I left the room to put away towels, and came back to find she'd helped me fold my mama cloth. 

gives new meaning to the phrase 'sanitary napkin' 

I'm sure Emily Post is so proud right now. I know Ava is. 

picking her own clothes and accessories proves interesting

ps. This especially made me marvel, since a) we rarely drink coffee or tea, so her decision to put a spoon in the cup was gleaned from somewhere else, or likely just her own imagination and b) we are not too prim with our coffee the few times we do drink it, and certainly have never put napkins under our cups. Although, we are diligent with our glass coasters, so I wonder if that is what she was aiming for?

Wet Bag Week: Mama Cloth Monday

**Let's preface this post - begin TMI alert**

Okay, now that that is out of the way. Today's contribution to Wet Bag Week is all about the wonders that is mama cloth, and how you can seamlessly incorporate reusable menstrual products into your day-to-day life.

 

First of all, my AF stash* (that is 'Aunt Flow' for you those of you new to the online lexicon): 

• 1 Medium Wet/Dry Planet Wise wet bag
• 1 Double-Sided Small mama cloth wet bag
• 1 Mooncup by Keeper menstrual cup
• 6 Thong Liners (all from Pleat)
• 18 Liners (a mix of lay-in liners from Mother Moon, Lemon Liners from Wasabi Mommi and snap-in liners from Tree Hugger)
• 1 Normal Pad (from Mother Moon)
• 5 Heavy/Overnight Pads (from Mother Moon and Wasabi Mommi)

For daytime I primarily use the cup with liners as backup. For nighttime I use the cup paired with the largest pad that is clean. I don't know if this happens to you (and I actually read there is some science behind this), but I don't sleep well when AF is in town. Instead, I am often sleepless, tossing and turning. I find that using a large back-up pad helps me sleep better.

Now, on to the wet bags. I have found that I like having two wet bags to make my AF as easy as possible. 

 

I love my double-sided portable wet bag. It ensures I don't fall back on my small stash of disposable products (kept mostly on hand for visitors to our home who might need an emergency loaner item or two). Instead, keeping the wet bag packed under the sink ensures I can grab  it, throw it into the massive mom purse (I use the term endearingly, as I love massive bags!) and go. I store clean pads in one pocket, with the other pocket is standing by. Or, if I'm expecting AF at any time, I pack liners in one side of the wet bag and the cup in the other side.

 

My second wet bag is a Planet Wise Medium Wet/Dry. This bag serves a two  functions. While AF is here, I clip the bag in a handy spot (for me this is the door handle next to the toilet) and store all of my clean pads in the dry pocket. When I change my pad, I throw it in the sink and run it under cold water until the water runs clear (tip - don't wring the pad out - leaving a bit of water in the pad will help prevent stains). I then transfer the used pad into the wet pocket of the wet bag until laundry time (for now my pads are washed with our diaper laundry; once my lovely girl potty trains I imagine I'll do one small mama cloth load at the end of the cycle).

The second use is purely to satisfy my desire to organize every possible area of my life. When AF is out of town (gosh, whoever invented that expression anyways?!), I store all my clean mama cloth , cup and small double-pocket wet bag in the dry pocket. I then can stash this neat little bundle of goodness in the cupboard.

Intrigued? Want to learn more about mama cloth? Check out the bottom of this page for a quick primer on the types of mama cloth. Want to learn more about menstrual cups? I found this post incredibly helpful when deciding what I wanted to buy.

*Just like cloth diapering is completely subjective, so is mama cloth. What one person loves will be completely off-putting for someone else. I quickly found I preferred the cup+liner over any other combination, so then I invested more in my liner collection. And I find some liners work best with different pairs of underwear. So, just like your baby has particular diapers for particular events, times or outfits, well.... so do I. ;)

**end TMI alert - we now return you to your regularly-scheduled programming**

Welcome to the WAHMlight: Double Feature

For this month, the attention shifts to you! (But not to worry, great diapering specials in store for both Black Friday and December's WAHMlight! Stay tuned in the coming days for hints.)

To start off the family focus with a bang, I've got not one, but two great WAHMs to introduce you to! In addition to amazing women, they also make amazing products. If you haven't considered a switch to natural products for yourself and the rest of your family, I highly recommend tipping your toe into this water. I am confident you won't regret it! 

And of course there is a giveaway. More details can be found following the two interviews. 

First up, Mother Moon Pads! 

Itsy Bitsy Bums: Please tell us about yourself and your family. 

Mother Moon: My name is Denelle, and I live in Neenah, WI, with my husband Henry, 3 children, and 1 fur kid. Henry and I have been married 10 years. Gwendolynne is 13, Ezekiel is 3, and Eleanor is 7 months old. Our furry child, Lady Bird, is 8. We are a very close knit family and family means everything to us. 

Mother Moon wingless liners

IBB: Is mama cloth something you grew up using? If not, do you recall when you first learned of it?

MM: I was not fortunate enough to use mama cloth growing up. I didn't learn that such a thing existed until I started cloth diapering my son. There was this sucession of "crunchiness" for me. Everything started with babywearing my first newborn, almost 14 years ago. When I was pregnant with my second child, I knew I wanted to wear him too (although not in the overpadded Nojo I wore my oldest in!). When I found TheBabyWearer, I learned about other natural parenting/living lifestyles, which led me to cloth diapering. Cloth diapering led me to DiaperSwappers, where I learned about mama cloth. 

OBV (Organic Bamboo Velour) topped pads

IBB: How did you decide to start making mama cloth? 

MM: I'm a very do it yourself type of person. I have a hard time purchasing items that I can make. When I convinced myself to try mama cloth, I knew that I could make it myself. Hundreds of tester pads later, I started selling MotherMoonPads under the KeepYourBabyClose name. 

the fabric stash!

IBB: Have you ever considered adding additional products to Mother Moon? What might they be? 

MM: In 2006, I started out in business as KeepYourBabyClose. I made and sold pouch slings, ring slings, linen wraps, nursing covers and mei tais. Over time, I have transitioned to what I truly love making, which is mama cloth. At this time, mama cloth keeps me more than busy, so I will not be offering any additional products. I do occasionally make custom embroidered diapers, or matching newborn diaper and postpartum mama cloth sets. 

I believe that by creating things that make me happy, this in turn makes me a better seller and happier person all around.

Denelle's sewing area is in the dining room

IBB: What tips do you have for WAHMs and WOHMs when it comes to juggling so many things at once (a little birdie told me you are also persuing a degree in accounting)? 

MM: My biggest piece of advice is: Do what you love, love what you do, and accept that you can't do everything. 

I am a WAHM and full time college student. I graduate this December with my BA in Accounting. I very carefully schedule my days and weeks in an attempt to fit everything in. I am fortunate enough to have a husband that is able and willing to assist me when needed. 

Our typical day consists of waking up, making breakfast and getting our oldest off to school and Daddy to work. My younger two love to play together while I start the orders for the day.

We also love to have morning playdates. Every Wednesday is our day off. We love to go to the Children's Museum or have friends over to play & sew. After lunch, my 3 year old lays down to have rest time. I wrap my youngest on my back, and we settle in for nap time (her) and sewing (me).

After nap time, we make supper together, and sit down to eat when Daddy gets home from work. We eat together every night. After supper, I work on homework and have family time. It's a crazy, action filled day, but it seems to work for our family. 

I do, however, have to accept that there are days where my children might need me more than usual and we will accomplish nothing. Those days are okay to have to. After all, my main goal is to keep my family happy and their needs fulfilled. 

Denelle's favorite view of her serger ♥ 

Second, Green Body Basics! 

From the WAHM behind GBB, Kristin - 

'Thank you, Abby, for featuring Green Body Basics as your WAHM business of the month.

'WAHM is one of my many roles. I am a mid twenties, degreeseeking, partner, internet surfing, shopping loving, natural thinking , tea drinking, karma believing, book loving woman.

'But my most important roll is mother, to my daughter as well as to my two black labs. My daughter is 16 months old and the love of my life.  I met her father 3 years ago and it was one of those "love at first sight" kind of stories.  Fast forward to 2 years ago and we discovered we were pregnant. A few weeks later we receive some abnormal results on our APF test and after further investigation discovere that Poppy-Ann has spina bifida.  This was a changing point in my life, as I had never before considered reducing the amount of chemicals I was exposed to, as I lived "healthy enough."  This lead me to finding alternatives to my daily products as well a leading me to live a less waste producing life.

'One product I knew I could not switch was my deodorant, as I had been a clinical/prescription strength user since my teenage years, suffering from what I was lead to believe was hyperhyrosis(over active sweat glands).  Fast forward again, and after many long months of using myself an family as guinea pigs I developed Green Body Basics Naturally effective deodorant, a completely natural an chemical free solution!  GBB has been recognized by Skin Deep's Cosmetic Database with a '0' hazard score for this very reason.  I submitted my product for review and was very happy to receive the feedback as my product has the lowest hazzard rating available, which is an honor.  From this point I continue my filing with PETA as a "cruelty-free" no animal testing company.

'Keeping in line with natural and environmentally friendly, I try my hardest to purchase all my ingredients from companies with honest environment supporting suppliers and practices. This was also reason for a change to remove palm oil from my products a few months after beginning business, as it was not a resource I felt comfortable using due to it's over farming.

'I love trying and creating new products and have been making my own cleaners and soaps for some months as well.  As for the future of what customer may see at GBB only time will tell, I have a few items for next summer lined up as well as some cold/flu season items that I am hoping to perfect here in the next month.'

Thank you Kristin and Denelle, I am so excited to feature both of you this month, in addition to stocking your products at IBB!

Now, for the swag:

• 1 1oz Green Body Basics deodorant in 'Sensual' 
• 4 Green Body Basics scent samples in 'Classic,' 'Immunity,' 'Sporty' and 'Stamina' (one in each scent)
• 1 8" Mother Moon Wingless Pantyliner
• 1 Mother Moon OBV Pantyliner (I pick the length for the OBV pads)
• 1 Mother Moon OBV Normal Flow pad 
• 1 Mother Moon OBV Heavy Flow pad

Typically WAHMlight giveaways are won by sending in action shots. Clearly I won't be asking for action shots this month. LOL.

Instead, you have several easy ways to win: 

• Every order at IBB is automatically entered to win (1 entry per order)
• Grab IBB's button (under 'Share the Love' in the right-hand navigation bar) and display on your blog (5 entries for this! button must remain up for the entire month of November)
• Become a fan of Bitsy Buzz (1 entry)
• Become a fan of IBB on Facebook (1 entry)
• Browse the store, then come back and tell me your favorite item carried by IBB

Please be sure to comment below to enter yourself, including links when applicable. Deadline to enter is November 30th. Winner to be announced by December 3rd on Facebook and this very blog. 

Happy Hunting!