Debuting #2 of JABC's 15 and Fabulous Celebration of Pincushions Series: And A Giveaway!

Do you remember me telling you that I was working on a project using my favorite button, the cupcake? Well it's time to share now! I give you, the second in our 15 and Fabulous Celebration of Pincushions series! These adorable felted wool bonbons are nestled into the traditional Valentine's heart-shaped box and topped with our brand new set of Just Pins! In the spirit of Valentine's we named the pincushion kit with our favorite cheesy valentines line, "Stuck On You."

Get a "Stuck On You!" kit from your favorite shop so you can make this festive pincushion at home! The kit includes a heart shaped box (no lid), Weeks Dye Works felted wool and embroidery floss, three fluted paper candy cups, the JABC buttons and the JABC "Be Mine" Just Pins pack.

Now, the giveaway! To enter this giveaway, where one lucky person will win a Stuck On You! pincushion kit, leave a comment below with your favorite cheesy Valentine's Day sentiment.

This giveaway will close at 5pm CST on Wednesday, Feb. 2nd. A winner will be announced Wednesday evening. If you experience difficulties leaving a comment here then please leave one on our Facebook page.

A Day in the Life of a Button: Part One

That's right! It's time for you to learn where buttons come from! What better way to learn than to watch first hand as a Frank's Cardinal hatches?

The very first step in the JABC button process begins with Hollie, one of our expert clay conditioners. Hollie, who also home schools her three young children, can spend up to four hours a day just mixing clay for JABC! She admits that she often has to mix clay, while the rest of her family sleeps, just to keep up!

The above picture shows Hollie in her workspace (its alternate personality is her kitchen).

Okay, let's watch as Hollie mixes and conditions the clay for the red section of Frank's Cardinal. She starts with several bars of red clay, which have to be unwrapped and sliced into small sections so the pieces can be easily blended. Mixing clay is not all about combining colors to achieve the desired tone, it's also about working the clay into an consistency that is easily shaped. As with the Frank's Cardinal red, Hollie has to concentrate on softening the clay so that someone can build it into the shape of a Cardinal. That sometimes even means adding a small amount of oil to keep the clay from being too brittle.

After the clay is in sections, she chops them up into fine pieces, in a food processor, so they will be easier to handle and easier to smash together. Here she adds a couple drops of oil.

And after it's chopped, here's what it looks like! Cool, isn't it? When it's white clay with a little yellow, I think it looks like miniture popcorn!

Now she mashes the bits together and begins rolling small sections to get an even consistency.

Once she's rolled it out, she bends the large piece to see if the clay is workable. In the photo below, Hollie is showing us that the clay needs a bit more oil before it's ready to be shaped into a button.

After the clay reaches the desired consistency she rolls it in waxed paper so it can be sent on to be built into a Frank's Cardinal.

You may have noticed that Hollie works with a pair of latex gloves on, check out why in the photo below! She says that the red clay is the worst for staining hands!

Thanks to Hollie for letting us photograph her while she works.

I hope you've enjoyed Part One of "A Day in the Life of a Button," be sure to stay tuned for Part Two!

Here's an interesting tidbit about Frank's Cardinal. He's named after Frank Bielec of Mosey 'n Me, who, along with his wife, drew the image that the button is based on. Can you guess which button is named after his wife?

A Winner!!!!

 Before I announce the lucky winner of Jabco the Snowman kit, I would like to thank you all for participating! I can't tell you how fun it was to read your lovely comments. I feel it's only right that I share my favorite button with you, as you have all shared with me. My favorite is the cupcake button! I was so excited when this button came out; it looks good enough to eat! You can expect that cupcake to appear in a very special (and very secret) upcoming project! Can't wait to share with you!

Ok, back to the giveaway! The winner of the Jabco the Snowman kit is Debora Gherity who said that she loves the hearts because they are all a bit different. Congratulations to Debora!

Thanks to everyone who entered! Jabco the Snowman is now available for wholesale purchase, so contact your favorite shop to get your kit! And start counting down the days until the 15th of next month!

Button Wishes!

Just In Case

Oh no! If you were having troubles leaving a comment on yesterday's giveaway, please leave a comment on our Facebook page instead. As long as your comment mentions your favorite button then we'll know you'd like to be entered in the giveaway! Please only one entry per person.

Because many people had difficulties leaving a comment yesterday, we will extend the giveaway entry period. The giveaway will close at 5:00 pm CST tomorrow, January 17th. I will announce the winner here, and on Facebook, tomorrow evening.

Sorry for the difficulties!

I've loved reading about your favorite buttons! Keep the comments coming!

Happy 15!

We're 15 & Fabulous!!! Today is the first part of the year-long celebration of our 15th birthday! And that means good things for you!

Throughout the year, as we celebrate our birthday, we will be introducing 15 new pincushion kits to you! And here on our blog, every month, I'll be holding a giveaway to give one of you the chance to win one of these new pincushion kits! 

This month, inspired by the thick blanket of snow covering most of the United States, we would like to introduce...Jabco the Snowman! He's a cute little guy with a beautiful NEW set of  Just Pins stuck in his hat! The kit for Jabco the Snowman includes all of the buttons, Weeks Dye Works wool, and wool roving that you need to make this happy little guy, plus the new Snowbird Just Pins to stick in his hat!

Everyone is eligible to enter this giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment below telling us which JABC button is your all time favorite! A winner will be chosen at random, tomorrow, Sunday January 16th at 11:00pm CST. Good luck to you all!

If you don't win, don't fret. You can still get a Jabco the Snowman pincushion kit and the new Snowbird Just Pins through your local JABC-carrying shop!

Don't Forget!

Tomorrow is the first day of our year-long, "15 and Fabulous" celebration!

Don't forget to stop by "The Daily Button," or you might miss out!

See you tomorrow!

Find Your Inspiration

This morning I received a lovely e-mail from Marianne Goarin, friend of JABC. Marianne (from France) is owner and designer for The Cinnamon Patch. She designs magical felted wool folk art. You must go to her website to see her designs. Or go to her Facebook page, which is usually in English. Oh how I love the colors she uses; her work is so inspiring and cheerful! Mom and I had the pleasure of meeting her last year at the International Quilt Market. She was there, all the way from France, to represent her beautiful designs. We were lucky enough to be in the booth across from her and enjoyed spending the time, between surges of traffic, conversing and sharing inspiration.

So back to the point. I had a lovely e-mail from Marianne in my inbox this morning! She tipped me off to an amazing website called Pinterest! It's an online inspiration board where users can "pin" photos of things that they love and build collections of inspiring images. What a neat idea! It's similar to the Treasuries of Etsy, but these are not necessarily items for sale. Also, if you find an inspiring image that someone else has posted you may "repin" it to your own inspiration board. It then has the original poster's name on it but it can appear in your collection. I found an image (below) that I thought you would enjoy as much as I did!

via on Pinterest

I can't wait to create my own username on Pinterest! I hope to see you all there too!

New Studio

As part of our Fifteen and Fabulous celebration (that's what we're calling the year-long celebration of our 15th birthday) we are designing a new studio where Cecile can make buttons!  She's been working in the same teeny weeny room, without windows, in her basement for the last 15 years.

I'm sure she's been dreaming of a real studio for years but in 2011 it will become a reality. Of course the timing might have something to do with the fact that she's got me to do all the painting and moving for her now. Okay, I admit it, I do enjoy painting and arranging furniture isn't too bad either.

The space is actually in the other half of the building that houses our JABC office and headquarters. The space has been sitting almost empty (aside from a few things that live there between trade shows) for years. So this January it's getting a makeover!

Here are some photos I took while we were painting.

He wanted to help with the painting

I can't wait to show you more photos as we move along in the process!

How Do Your Buttons Grow?

Have you ever wondered where your JABC buttons come from? I mean besides 116 W. Market St. - Troy, IL like it says on the return address. Who makes each button? Who mixes the clay? How does each button get its holes? If you've ever wondered any of those things then you're in for a treat! I'm going to give you a behind the scenes look at Just Another Button Company to answer all those questions you've been pondering about JABC buttons.

Today's question to answer is this: "How do you organize the buttons while they're waiting to be shipped?"

Imagine a room, an average sized room, maybe 14x17 ft. Now imagine that lining that room are waist-level counter tops, and above those counter tops are three levels of shelves, and those shelves are lined with trays and each of those trays has 16 cubbies and in each of those cubbies.....

Okay, okay. This question is definitely worthy of a visual aid.

On an average day we have between 800,000 and 900,000 buttons on our hands! That's a lot of buttons! We like to keep a good supply of each button so that orders can be shipped as soon as we receive them. Though sometimes it's hard to keep the most popular buttons in stock! Cecile jokingly refers to JABC as The All Night Button Company because the button makers don't get much sleep when a button reaches its most popular point. They make them round the clock just to keep up!

And that doesn't even begin to cover the packs and Just Pins! 

I hope you've enjoyed today's little peak into our button haven! If you've got a JABC button question that you want answered leave it below and it might appear in the next post!

And So It Begins,

Happy New Year to button lovers everywhere! The New Year seems the perfect time to start new projects and for Just Another Button Company, that project is our new blog, "The Daily Button." 

Introductions are in order. I am Rachel Martin, daughter of Just Another Button Company's owner, Cecile McPeak. I too have a deep love for buttons and jumped at the opportunity to build a blog for JABC. Though my employment with JABC is recent, I have always been involved in the company in my own special way. As a seven year-old child it was my duty to make my mother feel guilty when she left for a trade show. I kicked, screamed and cried as she told me good bye and left me with my two stinky brothers and my dad. Things have definitely changed though. Now I kick, scream and cry as she drags me along to trade shows!

I am most excited to have this opportunity to communicate with you! The Daily Button will give you a behind the scenes look at the daily workings at JABC. It will give you a chance to give us feedback, ideas, and inspiration. We will share our button filled world and hope to have a glimpse of yours in return. The debut of The Daily Button is timed to celebrate a very important birthday for JABC. Just Another Button Company is celebrating its 15th birthday, and we plan to celebrate all year! What does that mean for you? One very exciting year! You can look forward to a celebratory post on the 15th of every month with something special for you to enjoy! The official plans are top secret, but lucky for you, there are only 14 days before January's birthday plans are revealed!

For now, I leave you with this bit of JABC trivia.
Did you know that Just Another Button Company used to be known as Just My Imagination? The name was changed to Just Another Button Company in 2001.