Welcome to The Button Blog
by American Button Machines!

We are so glad that you have decided to join us at The Button Blog, where our goal is very simple: to celebrate the wonderful world of buttons.

Please, browse The Button Blog to learn more about making buttons, and to discover the many varied uses of a button machine and the myriad novelty items that you can create with your own button maker.

***Featured Product: 1" Ponytail Sets

You asked and American Button Machines listened, and we are now proud to announce our brand yaba-daba-new 1" ponytail sets, which have never before been available for purchase anywhere.

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Recent Posts

4 Essential Tips for Designing Effective and Memorable Campaign Buttons

Fall is election time, and we are nearing the heart of it now as the final days of September approach and October, then November, beckon. We already supplied you with tips for actually making and displaying campaign buttons, plus three tips specific to elementary school campaign buttons.

In this post, we provide you with four essential tips for designing the most effective and memorable campaign buttons possible.

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Back to School Tip for Teachers: Teach Business and Have Fun with…Buttons!

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!)

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Sports Photo Buttons – Why Sports Buttons are Great Fundraisers for High Schools

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.

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Tips For Making and Displaying Campaign Buttons

Campaign season is upon us, which means that the making and displaying of campaign buttons is a matter of urgent importance to anyone running for office this fall. Fortunately for all of the candidates (old and young) and campaign managers out there, we just so happen to be experts at guiding you along the campaign button making process.

In fact, we have touched on the topic of making campaign buttons before, right here at The Button Blog. Here is our post on how to make a campaign button, which we posted for last year’s campaign season but which continues to be relevant this year.

In case you don’t want to read the whole thing, a quick summary:

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3 Campaign Button Making Tips for Elementary School Kid Campaigns

One of the most exciting experiences for an elementary school kid is participating in his or her first campaign. In some schools, campaigns for class president, vice president, and treasurer begin as early as third grade! What makes these experiences extra special for the kids is when the adults treat them as “real” as possible.

And if we’re writing about it here on The Button Blog, you know that can only mean one thing: it’s time to talk campaign buttons! And this time, we’re talking about them for the kiddos, not the adults.

So what kinds of things should you keep in mind when it comes to creating campaign buttons for elementary school campaigns? There are three pretty basic ones, and we discuss them in this post.

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Quick Tutorial: How to add pictures to your posts in the discussion forum

Many of you who use the Button Blog Discussion Forum have asked if there is a way to insert pictures into your posts and comments. The answer is yes there is, and now we have a quick and easy tutorial video to show you exactly how to do it:

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Introducing New Button Product #3: Button Bracelets!

We are now on new button product #2 out of the six we promised you a couple months ago. We have already discussed button display racks and deluxe foam discs, and now it is time for an even more exciting new product…if you can believe it!

Well, believe it, because we are introducing into the button marketplace a product never-before-seen at the 1″ size: button bracelets.

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Introducing New Button Product #2: Deluxe Foam Discs

Last week we introduced you to button display racks, also known as Product #1 in our group of six new products we are introducing to the market this year.

Today, it’s time to officially roll out new button product #2: deluxe foam discs!

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Introducing New Button Product #1: Button Display Racks

At the end of April, we announced six new, exclusive button products that we will be introducing in 2011. Today, we are proud and excited to officially introduce to you the first of these six new products:

Button Display Racks.

You asked for a better way to display your buttons, and we listened!

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Customer Spotlight: Edgar McHerly and His “Bag of Buttons”

It’s that time again: time for another ABM Customer Spotlight!

As you know, we love highlighting all of our creative and enterprising customers. So make sure you email us with stories and pictures of all the fun, unique items you are making with your ABM products.

Today’s spotlight shines on Edgar McHerly. He sells, among many things, a “bag of buttons” that is creative, colorful, and captivating all at the same time. Here is a picture and an email that Edgar sent to us recently.

» read more