buttons, buttons, who's got the buttons?

Well, apparently, I DO now.

I'm making buttons by the buttload!

Bazillions of buttons, all vintage ephemera:  Books, song sheets, labels, old LIFE magazines, wallpaper, typed work pages....

I've got a thing for buttons now.

I can blame it all on my sister, who brought her button making madness to the NSS last May.  It caught on and it caught up to me, and now it's how I spend my free moments, making buttons.  Maison d'Etre in the East Bay can't keep 'em in stock!  I just shipped a bunch to Oz, as well.  A great little shop called Newspaper Taxi has bought into buttons!

The best part is finding the images:  digging through all the piles and piles of old books and papers and journals and pamphlets and labels, on and on and thinking there it is, there's the image, and that one little inch is going to say a whoooole lot for someone.

I think I get such a kick out of it because I used to be a major button wearer.  I still find myself buying a little button at the counter top, just before I pay for all those cards and zines in my hand.  Growing up, I had buttons on my jacket and my backpack.  I couldn't pass up a good band button:  I had a set of Beatles buttons that were the absolute bomb.  And buttons that said "question authority" or "kiss me it's my birthday/ I'm Irish", were always on hand.  I believed in communication by button for awhile there. 

And now it's my turn to create the idea, make the button, and help someone else communicate by button.