As you are probably aware, it is now September. This means a number of things: in most areas of the country it means that leaves will start changing colors; it also means that both college and professional football are set to begin new seasons while baseball winds another long one down; it also means that shorts and tank tops are replaced by jeans and wind breakers.

And, most importantly, it means that kids are back to school. (Hence the “B2S” in the title…our attempt to start the next “LOL” or “BTW”. So pass it on…)

Another year of school starting means that teachers across the country are looking for new classroom activities that can not only hold students’ attention but also teach them valuable lessons. For any teachers out there looking for an innovate way to teach math, teamwork, business concepts, and even simple economics, we have the perfect idea.

Yep, you guessed it: buttons! (What were you expecting? Textbooks? Ha!)

First of all, consider how useful buttons are in school. They can be used during class elections, as in-class rewards for positive contributions and/or behavior, as identifying symbols for class teams, and even just as a simple device for teachers to learn kids names.

Next, consider how easy and safe buttons are to make.

So we know buttons are useful and relevant for school activities, and making them at school is a safe activity. But here is the best part: the educational opportunities are endless.

One idea would be to split a class up to intro groups of three or four and give each group a finite amount of button supplies, a finite amount of time with the button machine, and then some sort of production or sales directive. Maybe the team that can produce the most buttons in a set amount of time wins. Maybe you give kids in a different class play money and the team that can generate the most “revenue” wins.

Like I said, the opportunities are endless.

All the while, kids will be learning valuable lessons about teamwork, about factors of production, about supply and demand, about the math involved in processing transactions, and they will probably be having fun the entire time.

The next question is where would you get the supplies and what would they cost. And you knew we’d be ready to provide that answer, now didn’t ya!

Consider our beginner button making system for the 2.25″ button (our most popular and versatile size). This system comes with all of the following:

• 2.25″ Professional Button Maker
• 250 2.25″ Complete Pinback Button Sets
• Adjustable Circle Cutter
• Cutting Wheel
• Cutting Plate
• Two Centering Templates
• Button Essentials Design CD
• Artistic Creations Series-One Design CD
• Artistic Creations Series-Two Design CD
• Free UPS Ground Shipping
• Also includes complete instructions on how to make buttons and our lifetime warranty against defects.

Thus, with just one system, a class of 25 could be split into groups of 5 and given enough supplies to make 50 buttons. They’d also have three CDs worth of free graphics and designs to choose from! The system includes the machine, the cutters, and all of the centering tools your students would need to operate an actual button making operation!

And, of course, teachers could always give extra credit for any team that makes an “I Love My Teacher” button as a gift. (Hey, it’s never too early to teach them how the world really works, right??? JK!)

You can also go above and beyond pinback buttons by creating refrigerator magnets, rosette award ribbons or ponytail holders. The more options, the more fun the kids will probably have…and as we all know, the more fun they are having, the more engaged and likely to learning they’ll be as well.

One of the most commonly asked – and important – questions that we get from potential button makers is: what size button is right for our project? It’s a great question. With so many different button size options available, it can be hard to narrow it down and choose the one that perfectly fits your particular project.

While the 2.25″ button is the most common and versatile button size that we sell, it is just one of many. In today’s post we are going to talk about a button size that doesn’t get enough credit or pub; but hey, even big buttons need love too.

So here are a variety of uses for the 6″ button.

First of all, 6 inch buttons are terrific for photo buttons; and you can even make 6” photo buttons out of regular printer paper. But while photo buttons are the most common kind of 6″ button, they are far from the only option.

Try a game of tic tac toe using a 6” button as the game board and using 1” magnets for the pieces.  You can customize the buttons using your own graphics and imagination, as was done with the button below:

We can also customize a 6” button machine to make fabric covered buttons. Fabric button are great to display your monogram or cross stitching skills onto large 6” buttons.

In addition, 6” Buttons come with their own built-in pop-out display easel so you can stand them up and show off your craftiness on a desk or bookshelf.

You can also make custom clocks, and large 6” buttons are also great for selling custom promotional products into retail stores.

And although we do not condone it, you can also place the smaller 1” buttons you made on a cat.

Image Courtesy of Stuff on My Cat

If you are looking for a unique way to display a memory, you cannot go wrong with the 6″ button:

• 6” Button Machine
• 6” Professional Button Making System

Some 702 tweets ago (as of this post) we launched our Twitter account: @ABMachines. Since our first tweet, we have been privileged enough to be followed by more 3,000 button, craft, and smiley face enthusiasts.

We would be lying if we said that we expected to achieve that kind of following in such a short amount of time, and we certainly are honored and humbled by it. As you know if you follow us, we look at it as a responsibility to tweet and retweet useful content regularly and to respond to any messages you send us via Twtter.

And today, we are excited to announce that, as a thank you and show of appreciation, we are going to give all of our Twitter followers the opportunity receive a discount on their next purchase of a button making system from ABM.

Here are the details of how our first Twitter contest will work:

• It will run from the moment I hit publish on this post to 12:00 AM Monday morning (the 23rd of this month).
• Each twitter account that retweets an ABM tweet will be entered into a drawing for the grand prize. You receive one entry for each retweet, with a maximum of five per account.
• On Monday, we will tally up all of the entries and chose one at random. That entry will win the grand prize.
• The grand prize winner will receive 20% off their choice of one Beginner Button Making System or Professional Button Making System (available sizes: 1.25″, 1.5″, or 2.25″). [Note: Free shipping is standard on all systems and applies here.]
• We will then contact the winner via an @ reply on Twitter. You must respond within 48 hours to claim your prize.

And that’s it. It’s that simple: retweet our posts and get a chance at 20% off everything you need to make a big, huge batch of buttons!

So what are you waiting for? Go retweet this post.

And if you’re not already following us Twitter, join the literally thousands of button enthusiasts who do!

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In an article earlier today, we discussed some creative fundraising ideas for schools. The response to this post was so positive that we wanted to break out a few of the ideas and deal with them individually. So today we are going to discuss the wonderful world of sports photo buttons; and specifically, why sports buttons are great fundraisers for high schools.

If you have ever gone to a high school football or basketball game, you have probably seen multitudes of women covered in decorative photo buttons. Typically, the buttons will have either the school logo, or pictures of athletes or cheerleaders, which are presumably their children. The photo buttons are usually brightly colored and feature close-up shots of the athletes and are a great way to show support for a school or child.

What many savvy high school athletic departments have found out, but that others may not realize, is that these sports photo buttons are easy and cheap to make and can return a very nice ROI as a fundraising product.

To illustrate, we will use our products at American Button Machines as an example.

Here is a quick list of our most popular photo button systems:

• 3″ Professional Photo Button System
• 3-1/2″ Professional Photo Button System
• 2-1/4″ Professional Photo Button System
  

Photo buttons are typically made with 2-1/4 inch, 3 inch, and 3-1/2 inch buttons. The two larger sizes are most widely used because you have a much larger canvas to work with. The allows you to put the student-athlete’s picture on the photo button and then customize the text. A 2-1/4″ button gets a little a crowded with a much smaller picture.

The typical sports photo button costs about a nickel to make and most athletic departments of photo vendors who produce the buttons for the schools can charge anywhere from $5-$8. This is a pretty significant profit margin. And the more you make and sell, the cheaper the overall cost becomes.

The most cost-efficient means of producing and selling sports photo buttons is for athletic departments to purchase their own button machine, and then the supplies in bulk When you spread the cost of a button machine and supplies over the entire body of time during which the sports photo buttons are made and sold, the unit cost decreases in perpetuity.

A common question is what is the best way to acquire the actual photos that will be used to produce the sports photo buttons. Button makers can take their own photos, or team up with photographers who take sports photos. (Side note, for any sports photographers reading this: you can add photo buttons to your product line for another avenue of revenue as well.)

With the top-of-the-line 3 inch and 3-1/2 inch button machine products sold by American Button Machines, you can use true photo paper, which is much thicker than normal printing paper. No machine other than the one sold by ABM allows you to do this. If you want to make a 2-1/4″ button, you can use photo paper with 2-1/4″ photo punch.

If you are interesting in learning more about sports photo buttons, we have compiled an entire Photo Button Making System on our main website to help you. It includes everything you would need to get started.

And, as an additional complementary item, many people have found that button easels are a great purchase, as they allow you to display a button on your desk or bookshelf when it is not pinned to your clothing.

In summary, sports photo buttons have been in use for a long time by many high schools as a way to create nice looking team and athlete memorabilia at a very low cost. Those high schools that have an enterprising mind have found that selling the buttons for an easily palatable cost of $5-$8 can add valuable revenue to the operating budget. So whether you want to make your own sports photo buttons at home for your family, or are looking for great fundraiser ideas for a high school sports program, a sports photo button making system could be a valuable, and fun, long-term investment.

One of the greatest and most rewarding uses of a button machine is the creation of novelty items that can be an excellent addition to your list of creative fundraising ideas. Many schools, from the elementary level all the way up to high schools and colleges, have made the relatively small investment in a button machine to create personalized promotional buttons for clubs, causes, and classes.

American Button Machines has published an extensive feature article about using a button machine to create pinback buttons for promotional and fundraising purposes. So why is purchasing a button machine and making your own novelty buttons an excellent creative fundraising idea?

Let’s count the ways.

1 — Button Machines are a cost-effective investment for schools and small businesses.

We have sold numerous button machines and supplies to schools and small businesses that were in search of a low-cost yet highly effective means of creating personalized promotional items. One of our professional button machines can be purchased less than $200. Button making supplies can be purchased to create pinback buttons, keychains, refrigerator magnets or whatever specific novelty item is desired; and the great thing is that these additional button supplies can be purchased in bulk to reduce costs. If you are on a budget, you can purchase one of our Beginner Button Making Systems or Professional Button Maker System which includes everything you need to get started at a discounted rate, including free shipping.

2 — Organizations who own a button machine have tremendous flexibility and avenues for creativity.

When you own a button machine, the limits to what you can create are limited only by your own imagination. High school sports teams, for instance, will oftentimes create personalized buttons for moms and dads that feature a picture of their son or daughter in uniform. Clubs can create personalized nametag buttons for current and prospective members during callout meetings and mixers. Small business and restaurants can utilize the versatility of a button machine to create specialized pinback buttons that feature a weekly or monthly special, or a phrase as simple as “Ask Me About…” to suggestive sell and encourage customer interaction.

And we would be remiss if we did not mention the ability of a personalized pinback button at restaurants to effectively communicate “flair”:

(If the movie is not visible, click here.)

What do you want to communicate? With a button machine the sky is the limit and you can answer that question however you want, and then promote it successfully.

3 — Did we mention that the actual process of making a button with your own button machine is as easy as…well…pie? (Or, if you do not like pie, as easy as 1-2-3!)

One of our goals at American Button Machines, and in creating The Button Blog, is to assist you in using your button machine to create the novelty items that you desire. If you would like to see just how easy creating a pinback button is with your very own button machine, view our button machine tutorial here at The Button Blog. Additionally, we are actually the headmasters of Button University — a comprehensive online education course to teach you the basics of button making.

So now that we have explained to you why a button machine can be a great addition to the creative fundraising ideas you have already come up with for your school or organization, let us know how we can assist you at American Button Machines. Use the form below to ask any question you wish, or jump right on over to the American Button Machines store to shop for your button machine. There is a great fundraising solution waiting for you…and it is just a few clicks away.

We’ve got a quick new Customer Spotlight entry for you today, and it comes courtesy of Twitter.

As I try do at least once every week, I logged in today to see if anyone had messaged us or if anyone had any button making-related questions I could answer. Much to my excitement, there were a few messages. (This is typically what happens, but it’s still exciting every time! And that’s why you should follow us.)

One of the messages was from Twitter user @MonkeyThreads and said the following:

@ABMACHINES I worked my machine making 100 wedding favors. http://www.etsy.com/listing/37116137/bottle-opener-i-heart-my-wife-225-inches

Naturally I clicked on the link, and what I found was, indeed, quite the wedding favor!

Here is the best part though: even if you weren’t invited to the wedding, you can still pick up these fun bottle openers.

Click here to buy these bottle openers from Monkey Threads’ page on Etsy (called Gopherella). They are just $4.00 a pop.

And ladies, as the product description suggests, this makes a great gift for your husbands with football season just around the bend.

And if you want to make your own bottle openers, check out our 2.25″ button machine and bottle opener supplies.

Welcome back for post #2 in our weeklong series discussing American-made button maker kits and Chinese-made button maker kits. Yesterday we provided an overview and debunked a few myths about Chinese 3-in-1 button machines. Today we are going to do a button maker price comparison, contrasting the costs of Chinese-made button makers to the costs of our American-made button makers.

First, let’s take a look at the hard costs as we dig into this button maker price comparison.

The 3-in-1 Chinese button machine kits, which are sold through a limited distribution channel in the states, typically come with three exchangeable dies, three different “plastic” paper cutters to cut-a-circle, and button supplies for 250 buttons. On average, such sets retail for around 20% more than ours. We have developed two deluxe wholly American-made button making kits, each of which includes our most popular button sizes: 1”, 2.25” and 3” at a discounted price:

The Deluxe Beginner Button Maker Kit

• Includes a 1″, a 2.25″ and a 3″ Button Machine.
• Adjustable Circle Cutter with 3 centering templates to cut out the 3 different button sizes.
• 250 complete pinback button sets for each size: 1″, 2.25″, 3″ pinback buttons.
• Our Button Essentials Design CD and Artistic Creations Series #1 and Artistic Creations Series #2 Design Cds.

The Deluxe Professional Button Maker Kit

• Includes a 1″, a 2.25″ and a 3″ Button Machine.
• A 1″ Punch Cutter, 2.25″ Punch Cutter and a 3″ Punch Cutter to cut out graphics.
• 250 complete pinback button sets for each size: 1″, 2.25″, 3″ pinback buttons.
• Our Button Essentials Design CD, Artistic Creations Series #1 CD and Artistic Creations Series #2 Design CD.

Note: The primary difference between our beginner’s button making kit and the professional button making kit is the circle cutters. The beginner’s button kit includes one adjustable circle cutter, while the professional button making kit includes three individual advanced circle cutters that we call punch cutters. To learn more about punch cutters, and how ours are significantly better than those that typically come with Chinese 3-in-1 machines, go to the button making kit comparison page on the main ABM website.

The hard costs associated with Chinese button making kits and American button making kits, however, only tell a part of the story. Next up in our button maker price comparison, let’s consider the variable cost of supplies.

If you buy any type of button machine, obviously you need button supplies. The supplies necessary for use with a Chinese button machine are 3-5 times more expensive, with necessary being the operative word. While our button machines come with a lifetime warranty, Chinese button machines carry a warranty that is voided if you do not use their more expensive parts. Over time, this difference in supply cost can obviously add up to significant amounts especially if you are getting a button maker kit for business purposes and plan on producing in volume.

In addition, it is important to take into account the cost of time, especially if you are running a button-making business. While you could have three separate machines running at once making different sized buttons with the purchase of one of our deluxe button making kits, a singular 3-in-1 machine can only produce one size at one time. This means that a team working with one of our deluxe kits could make three times (if not more, since our machines are easier and quicker to use) as many buttons in a given time period than if using a 3-in-1 machine.

Why would you want to spend more money to support a non-American product that is of lesser quality?

Save money and support the home team by purchasing a higher quality and more cost efficient American-made button making kit from American Button Machines:

• Click to learn more about our beginner’s 3-in-1 button making kit
• Click to learn more about our professional 3-in-1 button making kit

Given the current economic situation, many families are forced to cut back on their spending while they try to come up with some ways to make extra income. One easy way to supplement an income for a very small investment is for a family to start their very own button making business.

The small investment for a button making system and the necessary supplies can allow an entrepreneurially minded family to easily start their own button business making pinback buttons. Pinback buttons are extremely versatile and have an enormous popularity. From campaign buttons to concert souvenirs, pinback buttons are a popular novelty item.

With a button machine from American Button Machines, a family running their own small button business can quickly produce a large number of pinback buttons for sale in a variety of venues, from local fairs to church bazaars. A button maker from American Button Machines can make a pinback button in as little as 10 seconds. With the necessary button supplies, a family can quickly produce a large number of custom buttons in as little as an hour.

With a button machine, you are only limited by your creativity. There are a diverse range of versatile button options to choose from, allowing your button business to produce a wide variety of buttons types, from key chains, refrigerator magnets, and pocket mirrors to nametags, photo buttons, coasters and even personalized gifts such as a six inch clock !

One way to quickly sell a large number of buttons is to contact your friends who are planning a wedding. Pinback buttons make great name tags, and also serve as excellent place settings for receptions, showers, and rehearsal dinners. American Button Machines was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings magazine on how to create wedding favors for the guests. A memorable idea for personalized gifts would be to give everyone in the wedding party a custom mirror they can take home as an inexpensive and thoughtful wedding favor.

Friends, families, local fairs or church bazaars are just a few of the many possibilities for developing a customer base for a small button making operation.
With a small investment and a little creativity, a family can supplement their income during these tough times with their very own button business.

By the time their wedding day comes around, most women have dreamt about it and visualized it over and over and over again.

The dress, and the ring, and the cake, and the music, and the invitations, and the flower girls, and, oh yeah!, even the groom…for most brides (and certainly for whoever is in charge of planning the wedding) that special day is one for which all the t’s must be crossed, the i’s must be dotted, and even the tiniest curveball can be cause for concern and consternation.

So you might that think that even the most even-keeled bride would turn into a bridezilla if they had to deal with what Jessica Zabala feared she would have to deal with on her wedding day.

And what is that, you ask? Oh nothing…nothing at all…just the smell of death emanating from across the street, nefariously infiltrating the noses of everyone in its vicinity.

Ms. Zabala’s reaction? Wear a button that says “I Love Lois” in honor of the famous “Corpse Flower” from whence the smell was wafting.

Here are Ms. Zabala and her fiancee Jonathan Smith proudly displaying their buttons:

Photo credit: David J. Phillip via KansasCity.com

We told you about Lois in or last Customer Spotlight. The Houston Museum of Natural Science used ABM button making supplies to create buttons commemorating the rare blooming of its Amorphophallus titanum, otherwise known as “Corpse Flower” because of the awful sewer stench it emits to attract the flies and beetles it needs to pollenate.

Most of these flowers only bloom once and their blooming is difficult to predict. Thus, when Zabala decided to have her wedding across the street from the HMNS she had no idea that Sue. R. Stench (get it?) might be end up crashing the party.

Surprisingly, or perhaps amazingly, Zabala did not flip out when informed of the possibility that Lois’ blooming could coincide with her nuptials. According to a story in the Dallas Morning News:

“I don’t need a florist anymore,” Zabala laughs. “I’ve got Lois.”

…

“I did not know that Lois was quietly sprouting in the greenhouse across the street,” Zabala said, donning an “I Love Lois” button given to her by the museum.

This is the point during this blog post at which we take full credit for Ms. Zabala keeping her cool and not, well, doing this. That’s right, we’re taking credit. Clearly the “I Love Lois” button served as an assuaging olive branch that defused a potentially volatile situation. Once Ms. Zabala was wearing the button, and thus publicly professing her love for the odious flower, how could she be upset with it?

Once again, buttons have proven themselves to be among the most wonderfully potent sources of joy in the world…capable even of overcoming the most unreasonable, uncompromising force known to nature: a bride on the week of her wedding.

Okay…so maybe we’re exaggerating, and maybe we’re exaggerating by a lot. Ms. Zabala by all accounts sounds like a perfectly reasonable bride and we certainly have no experience with any other kind of bride (right honey?).

We are actually just very proud that our buttons were used to commemorate Lois’ blooming and that they warranted mention in the article about Ms. Zabala.( Now we just hope that the wedding went off without a hitch…or a stench…as there were no articles available that updated the story post-bloom and post-wedding.)

The moral of the story? Buttons rule (of course) and Jonathan Smith is appears to have made himself a very wise decision.

It is July 22nd, 2010. Do you know what that means? It’s officially Reiterate Our Pledge to Our Customers Day at American Button Machines.

If it sounds like we just made that up a couple of seconds ago, you would be both right and wrong.

Is today actually Reiterate Our Pledge to Our Customers Day at ABM? Sure it is. The tricky part is that, to us, every day is Reiterate Our Pledge to Our Customers Day.

And our pledge to our customers is very simple: when you buy a button machine or any button making supplies from us, we pledge to you that you are buying the highest quality button parts available. Bar none.

Of course, we don’t just make that pledge without anything backing it up. On all of our button machines, we offer a lifetime warranty against defects.

We do this for the following reasons:

1. We trust the quality of our button machines.
2. We value each of our customers wholeheartedly.

The reason we trust the quality of our button machines so much is because we do not make cheap button parts. Cheap button supplies fall apart and lead to unsatisfied customers. Our high quality button parts are free from grease and oil and stand the test of time to make sure that you make a sound, long-lasting investment.

Whether you are planning to start your own button making business, create pinback buttons for a band or team, make buttons to be used at a fundraiser or church event, or just to have at home because you love to craft, we know you wouldn’t be purchasing one of our machines unless it was important to you.

And that is important to us.

So the next time you need a button maker or button parts, and you’re wondering where you should get them from, just remember our pledge, trust our quality, and buy button parts from ABM with complete and utter confidence.