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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Creative Fundraising Ideas for Schools: Personalized Buttons and Novelty Items

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.

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Button Maker Price Comparison: American All-in-One Kits v Chinese 3-in-1 Button Makers

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.

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How to Start a Button Business

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. » read more

Button University Lesson 8: Making Buttons Is Easy!

Yesterday, in Lesson 7 of Button University, we talked about ways for you to create your templates for your buttons. Today, we are going to show you how easy it is to make a button when using our easy to use, quality button machines.

Watch it happen. Check out the videos of the process. The longest one is only 24 seconds! It really is that easy to make a button!

• Button Machine Video
  
• Adjustable Rotary Cutter Video
• High Volume Die Cutting Press

Here are some more simple step-by-step guidelines on how to make a button using products from American Button Machines.

Button Machine Step-by-Step

Step 1: Place the button components in the Pickup Die and the Crimp Die.
Step 2: Rotate the Pickup Die clockwise until it is underneath the Upper Die.
Step 3: Pull the handle down, easily crimping the shell, graphic, and mylar in the Upper Die.

Punch Cutter Step-by-Step

Step 1: Insert the paper strip into the punch cutter and center the graphic in the hole.
Step 2: Push the handle down until the punch goes all the way through the paper.
Step 3: Remove the cut graphic and place to the side.
Step 4: Pull the paper strip through, center the next graphic, and repeat steps 2 and 3.

As you can quickly tell, it doesn’t take long to make a button. And it’s certainly not very difficult! Join us tomorrow as we talk a little more about Fabric Buttons.

Button University Lesson 6: Beginner Button Making Systems and Professional Button Making Systems

Glad you’re back as another week begins to visit The Button Blog and increase your button making success! On Friday, in the fifth installment of our Button University series, we discussed button paper — specifically, how to choose the right kind. Today, we are going to show you the elements of beginner and professional button making systems.

The readership of this blog varies between both beginners and professionals, and with that come natural questions. Although it may seem like a beginner will need a completely different system than a seasoned professional, that’s not completely true. In fact, the only difference between a beginner button making system and a professional button making system is the type of paper cutter you’ll receive. Our Beginner Systems include the Adjustable Rotary Cutter while our Professional Systems include a Punch Cutter.

Once you order the appropriate system you can begin making buttons in minutes… literally.

Below I’ve listed a complete list of what you’ll get in both the Beginner Button Making System and the Professional Button Making System.

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Button University Lesson 4: The Three Different Kinds of Cutters

Sorry for the late posting time on today’s Button University lesson. Sometimes the phone just rings and rings and rings and our duty as gatekeepers to the wonderful world of buttons beckons from sunrise to sundown. After a moment to catch my breath, it is now time for some late afternoon fun here at The Button Blog.

Yesterday, in lesson 4 of our ongoing Button University series, we discussed design standards for button machines and gave you the reasons why ours have the best button machine design available on the market. Today, we are going to dive feet first into cutters. And if you are a graduate of Indiana University, no, this post does not have anything to do with the Cutters race team or the Little 500.

(Raise your hand if you understood that reference? The movie Breaking Away? Anyone? Okay, not many hands up. I hear crickets. Let’s just move along now, shall we?)

So, let’s say that you are getting ready to start a button project. You have your button machine, you have all of your button supplies, and you even have sheets of neatly printed circular graphics ready to go. Are you ready to start making buttons?

Not so fast. Your gorgeous and beautiful graphics must be cut out!

How are you going to accomplish this?

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Button University Lesson 3: Best Button Machine Design Standards

Welcome to the third edition of our continuing daily Button University series. In previous posts, we tackled issues related to button making instructions and button sizes, and today we look at button machine designs; and specifically, how ABM products incorporate the best button machine design standards in the ever burgeoning button maker market.

Let’s make one thing clear right off the bat: we believe that our button makers incorporate the finest materials and technology to consistently produce quality buttons time and time again. In no way is this meant to disparage our competition. Rather, it is a simple proclamation to our customers that you can completely trust that the products you receive from American Button Machines will be the best. Period.

Why are we so confident that our products employ the best button machine design standards? Let’s count out a few of the reasons:

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Button University Lesson 2: Button Sizes – Choosing the Right One

On Friday, we introduced you to our new series of posts that highlight some of the information available at the Button University resource of our main website. The first post in the series provided step-by-step instructions for any button making project. Today, we delve into an important decision that must be made when you are making buttons: with all of the different button sizes available, which one should you use for your project?

Over at our main website, we have a handy-dandy table that you can use for quick reference regarding decisions on button sizes. While we could simply repost that table here, what would be the fun in that? Plus, we know that some people don’t always like looking at tables and charts. So we will use our space here to outline, in a little more detailed fashion, which button sizes and button machine options work best for producing different button types and styles.

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Button University Lesson 1: Instructions For Starting a Button Making Project

Throughout the years, so many of our wonderful customers have asked us for information, tips, and tutorials regarding button making and how to use their newly purchased button machine. We are always willing and excited to answer any question whether over the phone or though email, but also have made it our goal to give you online access to as many resources as we can provide.

One of these resources is Button University. We introduced Button University in an earlier post, and now we are setting out to provide all of our loyal blog readers with the same information that our website and storefront customers receive over at the main ABM site.

So with that in mind, let’s dive right into your first lesson from Button University: step-by-step instructions for starting a button making project.

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