Buttons by McAnaraks: Celebrating 900 followers with a giveaway!

***This post is staying at the top of the blog through March 5; please scroll down to see more, newer blog posts!***

My name is Fran and I make buttons.

I started out 20 odd years ago making clothes under my clothing label "McAnaraks" and selling them at craft fairs around Scotland. Steve invents and makes wooden puzzles and resin dice. We met at a craft fair when I asked him if he could make buttons for me to put on my jackets. He said he couldn't. I managed to overcome my disappointment and we got to know each other anyway and we have been together for 19 years now. So it was buttons that brought us together.

Eventually he started making buttons for me to put on the jackets I made. People often asked if they could buy them, but I jealously guarded them for use on my clothing creations. In 2009 I decided to have a go at decorating the buttons, and found that it was great fun and I was quite good at it, so we tried putting a few on sale at one of our craft fairs, they were a hit and "Buttons by McAnaraks" was born. 

The buttons are made from polyester resin which is a liquid plastic that hardens when combined with a catalyst. After the two are combined you have about 20 minutes to pour it into molds before it starts setting. This is a very messy and smelly process which requires the use of breathing apparatus and lots and lots of disposable rubber gloves - so I let Steve do all that side of it out in the garden shed. I stay in the warmth of our indoor workshop and do the arty bits - I decorate the buttons, each one freehand, which makes them all different. The process I use for this is a trade secret. I could tell you how I do it, but then I'm afraid I would have to kill you.

We have to leave the buttons to set overnight before emptying the molds, and I still find this bit exciting even after doing it hundreds of times. I never quite know what I'm going to find.

After a week the buttons are ready to be have their back edges ground, buffed and polished. We then mount them on cards and they are ready to send out to the shops that stock them or to our website and Etsy customers. 

Steve and I still make the things we started out making, but the buttons have become the thing that we spend most time on. It is exciting to have a new product and even more so because it is a joint venture. I think that all of us Button Floozies understand the attraction of a nice button, and I feel very lucky that I spend my time creating them.

 You can see our buttons and find out more about them on our website www.mcanaraks.com.

We also have an Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/ButtonsByMcAnaraks

and we are now on Facebook so please join us if you want to keep up with our news and find out about special offers in the future

http://www.facebook.com/ButtonsbyMcAnaraks.

Fran is generously offering this beautiful collection of buttons -- all that you see in these photos -- in celebration of Button Floozies reaching 900 followers!

Thank you so much for your generous giveaway, Fran!

To win these buttons, please comment on this post only between now and March 5, 2012.

One comment per person, please; if your email address is more than one click away on your blog profile, please include it in your comment. 

This giveaway ends on March 5, 2012, 11:59 pm MST; I will choose one comment by random number generator on the morning of March 6, 2012, and that lucky commenter will get all these beautiful, handmade buttons!

Please note: the chosen commenter will have 48 hours to respond to my email/announcement that they have been chosen; if I don't hear from them within 48 hours I will choose an alternate winner.