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What's New with WBA? |
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 Hello Fellow Buttoners, The shortest month of the year is a very busy one, at least here in America. First, there's Groundhog Day, where Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his hole to tell us whether we'll have more winter or see an early spring. Next up is the Super Bowl, then Valentine's Day, then Presidents' Day, and the whole month is a celebration of Black History. Whew! Perhaps the most celebrated event this month, unless your team wins the Super Bowl, is Valentine's Day. With that comes one of the most universally recognized symbols, the heart, along with gifts of chocolate and flowers to our loved ones. Mostly forgotten, however, is the role buttons have played in how we express love. From heart-shaped designs to sentimental keepsakes sewn onto clothes, buttons have long been a part of how we show love and creativity. In the 18th and 19th centuries, buttons were more than fasteners; they were statements. Sometimes they were given as a token of affection, especially when the cost of jewelry was too high. Carved bone, porcelain, and glass buttons featuring hearts, flowers, or initials displayed feelings or intentions. During the Victorian era, when emotions were kept low-key, buttons sewn onto clothing could signal mourning or affection. A button could sometimes say what words were unable to articulate. One of the most endearing traits of a button is its ability to hold memories. Buttons may be small, but they connect us to one another. A tin of buttons can evoke warm recollections of the mother or grandmother who saved them. A lone button found in the bottom of a drawer can be a precious reminder of days and people gone by. On Valentine's Day especially, a button can remind us that love lives in the small things every day of our lives. Happy Buttoning, Debbie WBA UPDATES Lynn Keller has resigned from her position as parliamentarian and as host of New Collectors' Club. Thank you Lynn for your time and effort on behalf of WBA. Jocelyn Howells will be the new host for New Collectors' Club. While the focus of this group is on guiding new collectors, Jocelyn wants everyone to know they are welcome to come and participate. After all, everyone is a new collector of something. Gina Barrett will move into the monthly hosting position for Creative Expressions beginning in February. Welcome, Gina. Joy Journeay will continue to host the spring and fall events. Finally, WBA founder Simone Kincaid has announced her resignation. Her familiar and hearty laugh will be missed at Button Talk as well as her ability to Google and come up with answers at a moment's notice. She worked tirelessly to help create WBA. Thank you, Simone. WEBSITE UPDATES Still thinking about contributing to WBA? Send us your short encyclopedia entries, articles, anecdotes, or whatever stories of interest you'd like to share! A small paragraph or two and a button or two make for a nice post! ABOUT: New Board Members ENCYCLOPEDIA: Berlin Iron PROGRAM RECORDINGS: Mourning Buttons by Dorothy Krugner Bring Your Bling with Joy Journeay Queen Bee Millinery with Ranelle Larocque MEMBER MARKET: Don't forget to shop the Member Market! New buttons have been added to many of the stores. Do you have some buttons you'd like to sell? Set up a Google Photo, Flickr, or other photo site, and we can help you from there. We'll use that link to point members to the buttons you want to sell. If you already have a selling site, we can link to it as well. Wanna trade? Looking for something special? We can post those requests on our Bulletin Board at the top of the Member Market page. Member Market is an awesome member benefit. Use the Member Market Form to send your requests. WEBSITE ASSISTANT: We're still looking for an assistant to help with the website for a few hours per month. If you have Weebly experience, website design/layout, or know HTML (nice but not required), we'd love to hear from you. Comments are closed.
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