Scary BOOton Winners Announcement

Oh my gourd, it’s time to announce the Scary BOOton winners!  Cultural icon Svengoolie picked his favorite glow-in-the-dark buttons from amazing submissions, and said “..seriously, I like them all for different reasons!”

1st Place     Larry Keiser

design featured on BusyBeaver.net

autographed photo of Svengoolie

100 free glow-in-the-dark buttons

Busy Beaver Scary BOOton set

2nd Place   Llyn Hunter

100 free glow in the dark buttons

Busy Beaver Scary BOOton set

3rd Place    Adam Kovalcsik

Busy Beaver Scary BOOton set

Come celebrate Halloween with Busy Beaver on October 31 at the awesome novelty shop and Button-O-matic host, Uncle Fun.  We are selling “instant Halloween costumes” and making spooky buttons.  Click here for more info on the Busy Beaver Facebook.

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₤€$$ !$ MØR€ Buttons

Chris Keating stuck two two quarters in the New Wave Coffee Button-O-matic and what came out, “cheered up an otherwise gloomy day filled with a friend in the hospital, a parking ticket and finding my passenger side mirror on the hood of my car.”  It was a gold-plated mystery button designed by Jennifer Daniel for Series 10, limited to one per Busy Beaver Button-O-matic with an edition of thirty buttons across the country.

Click here to visit the Jennifer Daniel website to see currency-inspired designs for The New York Times, Faesthetic Magazine, and Wired Magazine.  Her words about the Button-O-matic Series 10 are simple:

₤€$$ !$ MØR€ ¥€T I WANT MØR€

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Quality, Care and Speed

Project EARTH International uses buttons to promote their mission

Chris C. is a long-time button customer that uses buttons to promote his mission internationally.  Thank you for the kind words!

Greetings to everyone at BUSY BEAVER BUTTONS
On behalf of the Project E.A.R.T.H. International team in the USA, Nicaragua, Swaziland, South Africa, Mozambique and Kenya we would like to thank you for the amazing job you are doing.  We are quite happy with the quality, care and speed that you give to our button orders.  Your willingness to help us when we ask for something special is what has made you our exclusive supplier of these pins which are prayer reminders for all those who receive them.  Each pin is given to people as a thank you for what they donate to help us provide for people in need in the USA and around the world.  I would love to have a picture of your team that I can add to the many others I show the folks in those countries!  We consider you a part of our family.  Blessings to you and wishes for great success and growth in your business.

Sincerely,
Chris C.
International Mission Director
Project E.A.R.T.H. International

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Busy Beaver Makes Buttons for MAKE

Busy Beaver Sponsors MAKE Literary Productions

A biannual publication, MAKE circulates 2,000 copies twice a year throughout Chicago and beyond.  Busy Beaver Button Co. is proud to sponsor buttons for the MAKE benefit soiree again this year.

Click here to visit MAKE and register for an evening of premium beer, appetizers, and readings by American Skin author Don de Grazia, poetry collection Shine Tomorrow author Joel Craig, and Busy Beaver Button Co. family member Kathryn Scanlan, who is an emerging writer.

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Watch out for the Reckless Button-O-matic!

Reckless Records in Wicker Park

Where else can you buy the new Reigning Sound LP, Maximum Rock’n'Roll Magazine, and limited edition gold-plated buttons?  At Reckless Records, of course!  It is one of the first Button-O-matic locations and a hip shop with knowledgeable staff in the middle of Wicker Park in Chicago.  Go check out an in-store show and tell ‘em Busy Beaver sent ya!  Click here to visit Reckless Records online.

Click here to visit BusyBeaver.net

Reckless Records 1532 N Milwaukee in Chicago

Who’s Buttoned Up Now?

"Two's Missing" by The Who album art with buttons

The Who album art for the 1987 compilation of hard-to-obtain tracks features a painting by Richard Evans with super-mod-buttons on guitarist Pete Townshend and an enormous “ELVIS FOR EVERYONE” button on rock’n'roll drummer hero, Keith Moon.  It’s probably 4-inches in diameter!

“Two’s Missing” includes the “Can’t Explain” rare b-side “Bald Headed Woman” complete with Jimmy Page guitar solo (“he owned the only fuzz box in the country at that time”),  Rolling Stones covers like “Last Time,” and the Martha & the Vandellas hit “Heatwave.”

I love to buttons in action on record covers, like the MC5, GG Allin, and Thee Makeout Party.  Do you have a favorite?

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Busy Beaver in Martha Stewart Magazine

Busy Beaver Button Co. featured in Martha Stewart Weddings

Design*Sponge is described as “Martha Stewart Living for Millennials,” which makes the Martha Stewart Wedding feature about the blogger’s big day all the more appropriate.  Grace Bonney contacted Busy Beaver with the special request to make custom fabric buttons fast, and we were excited to be involved!

The best fabric for pin-back buttons is lightweight, taut, and rigid.  Did you see how Grace uses the custom buttons in her exclusive Design*Sponge wedding feature?  She purchased her fabric at Purl Soho.  Click here to see Busy Beaver featured in the October Martha Stewart Wedding Magazine!

Custom fabric buttons used on wedding party favor snacks

Heavenly Button Business Cards by Evil Kitty

Lidia designs Evil Kitty Button Business Cards to pass out at festivals

It was buttons-at-first-sight when Lidia handed me a pre-pinned, silk-screened Evil Kitty tote-bag at Pitchfork.  She uses buttons on her groovy business cards and describes how she uses them:

I’ve been giving out your [Busy Beaver] buttons at Pitchfork, Lolla and the Reading festival in the UK!  I also had them at a Sidewalk sale at the Daley Plaza this summer.   I also send them out with every on-line order.  As you can tell, I’m out and I need to get more soon.  For some reason I failed to obtain even one photo of me ambushing people in the crowd and forcing them to take my buttons (not  really, most people loved them).

Check out the Evil Kitty t-shirt sale at the opening of the Creative Lounge at Navy Pier in Chicago on October 16th, 2009.  Click here for the Evil Kitty website.  Click here for more photos on the Busy Beaver Flickr.

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Rock’n'Roll Button Weekend

Glow in the Dark buttons at Riot Fest in Chicago

Busy Beaver started making buttons for bands like Guided by Voices and Beck in 1995, and has produced millions for musicians and labels since.  This weekend was particularly action-packed with a button booth at Riot Fest, Disco Demolition photography buttons, Crocodiles buttons, and Box Elders badges.  Check out this weekend in button history:

Friday: Dead Milkmen reunited at Riot Fest in the Congress Theater

Saturday: Disco Demolition photo exhibit and buttons by Diane Alexander White

Sunday at 9PM: Button delivery to Crocodiles with the Horrors at the Double Door

Sunday: Crocodiles Fat Possum album art on a 1.5-inch square button

Clayton from Box Elders, Alex White Mystery, and Shayde from the Fresh and Onlys

Busy Beaver Scary BOOton Contest

Svengoolie 30th Anniversary Buttons

Want your design on BusyBeaver.net for Halloween?  Make a glow-in-the-dark design for any size Busy Beaver Button and cultural icon Rich Koz aka Svengoolie will judge the Spookiest BOOton!

Prizes

-Your name and button design on BusyBeaver.net on Halloween

-100 custom Glow in the Dark buttons with your design

-Autographed Svengoolie 30th Anniversary Button Pack

Entry Rules

-One design entry per human by October 25, 2009

-Click here for helpful Design Setup Guidelines and Templates

-Submit via Busy Beaver Facebook or e-mail buttongal@busybeaver.net

Go to BusyBeaver.net

Buy Svengoolie Buttons