The Little Way of Ruthie Leming

There is a reason Grandmother’s Buttons settled in tiny St. Francisville, Louisiana many years ago.  It isn’t the most convenient location from which to run a business.  There are many limitations involved in setting up shop in a small, rural town, but we make it work.  You may ask why?  Because small town life is more than just quaintness.  It is more than simply cute streets and picturesque buildings.  While St. Francisville has these in abundance, it also has a steadfast community that you would be hard pressed to find in a city.  In much the same way that the community raises its children, St. Francisville has raised Grandmother’s Buttons from infancy to adulthood.

[caption id="attachment_1538" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Rod's Sister Ruthie"][/caption]

So imagine our excitement when we learned that our very own Rod Dreher was writing a book about small town life, entitled “The Little Way of Ruthie Leming:  A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret to a Good Life.”  The book covers his sister’s battle  with cancer and the way in which the community here stood by her until the end.  As soon as he was old enough, Rod moved away from St. Francisville, opting for big city life and a successful career as a journalist.  However, through his experiences with Ruthie’s illness, he came to learn the value of a small community again. He came to value the support it can provide and the overwhelming feeling that comes from an outpouring of love from an entire town.

We waited for months and months to finally get to read Rod’s creation.  And it didn’t disappoint.  Last weekend, Grandmother’s Buttons had the honor of hosting the very first book signing on Rod’s tour.  Hundreds of St. Francisvillians came out to support him and Ruthie’s family, lining up an hour before he arrived to have their copies signed.

[caption id="attachment_1542" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Rod Dreher"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1551" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Rod and his mother, Dorothy Dreher"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1553" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Rod, his wife Julie and their daughter Nora"][/caption]

We had the fortune of having the talented Emily Branton, a local school teacher and Rod's  first cousin, perform for us as well that day!

Now we have to mention the Bopontamus Stew.  Bopotamus Stew is a creation of the community in St. Francisville called Star Hill, where Rod grew up.  It looks and tastes suspiciously like gumbo, but is delicious none the less!

British artist Alice Tait did a wonderful drawing of a map of the Starhill community for the book's endpapers.  We are offering a limited edition 11" x 14" print of the map in our store and on our website for $25, half of which will go to the Ruthie Leming Scholarship Fund for West Feliciana students.

GB's Amber, Breanna, and Daria  after a long, but wonderful day!

Rod, we can't thank you enough for sharing this amazing day with us.  Your book and your family are inspirations to us all!

Images provided by

St. Francisville History - Celebrating the Republic of West Florida



[caption id="attachment_521" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="Our new monument to the short-lived Republic of West Florida"][/caption]

This past weekend was a big one in our little town: it was the 40^th anniversary of our annual tour of historic homes, the Audubon Pilgrimage, and was also the closing ceremony for the 200^th anniversary of a short-lived independent nation, the Republic of West Florida, for which St. Francisville was the capital!

[caption id="attachment_532" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="Lowering the Bonnie Blue flag of the Republic of West Florida during the ceremony."][/caption]

That’s right - for 74 days in 1810, St. Francisville was capital of an independent nation that won its freedom from Spain in a one-night battle in Baton Rouge. The Free and Independent Republic of West Florida stretched from the Mississippi River along the Gulf Coast to the Perdido River (Florida’s current western border).

[caption id="attachment_535" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Sweet Maid dancers perform a maypole dance in the lawn next to Grandmother’s Buttons all three days of the Pilgrimage. (Photo by Amanda McKinney)"][/caption]

West Florida even had its own flag: called the Bonnie Blue, it featured a white star on a sky blue background (we were actually the first lone star state!)

[caption id="attachment_519" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="Our high school band, the West Feliciana Saints, marching in to the monument dedication ceremony."][/caption]

Grandmother’s Buttons is situated across the street from where the republic’s constitution was signed in a long-gone hotel, and the original Bonnie Blue flag is said to be buried in the street in front of us. This past Saturday, a new park and monument were dedicated on the grounds of the old hotel.

[caption id="attachment_539" align="alignleft" width="222" caption="Camie Norwood, wife of Republic of West Florida commissioner David Norwood, in full Pilgrimage regalia. Our tour is called the Audubon Pilgrimage to commemorate the years John James Audubon spent in West Feliciana painting some of his Birds of America. Pilgrimage volunteers dress in stunning and authentic 1820s costumes for the weekend."][/caption]

More pictures below. We certainly know how to celebrate our history in St. Francisville!  

[caption id="attachment_541" align="alignright" width="259" caption="The Sweet Maids taking a break in front of Grandmother’s Buttons"][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on the Audubon Pilgrimage, visit the town’s blog: http://bit.ly/fp6yht. Also on the blog is this very informative article about the Bicentennial of the Republic of West Florida: http://bit.ly/fI2dQw.

 

 

 

 

 

[caption id="attachment_543" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="Susan’s good friend Dorcas Brown, publisher of Country Roads magazine, observing the festivities."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_545" align="alignright" width="205" caption="West Feliciana Parish Historical Society chair, local elementary school principal and Susan’s sixth grade math teacher Dot Temple opening the ceremonies."][/caption]

 

  

 

 

 

The photo below is one of two lovely gardens on the tour, Afton Villa Gardens encompasses the grounds and ruins of a mid-nineteenth century estate that burned in the early 1960s. (Photo by Felicia Senette)

 

Mardi Gras and King's Cake - Grandmother's Buttons Style

[caption id="attachment_487" align="alignleft" width="226" caption="Randazzo's Camilia City Bakery uses Mardi Gras colored sprinkles instead of cups of colored sugars to top their cakes; despite this apostasy, their cakes are preferred by many New Orleanians. Here's a link to order their cakes: http://bit.ly/fHVGir"][/caption]

It happens to all Louisiana school children at some point—the realization that they alone receive Mardi Gras holidays, two days of (usually) glorious early spring weather spent out of the classroom catching beads and doubloons or at the very least eating king cake.  And if you are a certain kind of child, that moment comes to mind later when you decide that it is worth living here no matter what the politicians or weather gods have up their sleeves; any other place would be just too boring!

More on Mardi Gras later; today we’re talking about king cakes, the gaudy circles of sweet dough decorated with icing and vividly colored purple, green and gold sugars that appear at most social (or work or school) gatherings during the carnival season.  The tradition of the king cake dates to the colonial years of Louisiana, when cakes were baked for 12^th Night celebrations, the night when the three kings brought presents to the infant Jesus.  A bean or porcelain baby doll, representing Jesus, was baked into the cake, and the person finding the doll or bean was to bring the cake to the next celebration. 

[caption id="attachment_489" align="alignright" width="224" caption="Haydel's holds the Guiness record for baking the largest-ever king cake. To order their regular-sized version: http://bit.ly/hi3OK8"][/caption]

New Orleanians in particular are loyal to certain types of king cake.  My brother-in-law, Rick Sins, swears that he hasn’t had a real king cake since McKenzie’s bakery closed years ago.  He decries the gooiness of today’s cakes, which add cream cheese and fruit fillings to the traditional cinnamon-graced sweet dough. 

Like most culinary treasures in Louisiana, many of the most highly-touted king cakes come from hole-in-the-wall bakeries and drive-ins hidden in small neighborhoods or towns.  I’ve driven to gas stations and convenience stores up to 40 miles away to test certain highly-praised cakes, and must say I’ve seldom been disappointed (but then, I LOVE the cream cheese and praline fillings).

[caption id="attachment_491" align="alignleft" width="226" caption="Gambino's has popular bakeries in both New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Like most, their cakes are shipped with an assortment of Mardi Gras beads and doubloons. To order: http://bit.ly/erEXvk"][/caption]

My niece Amy Cyrex Sins, married to my nephew George Sins, is a Louisiana food enthusiast.  She and George lost their house next to the 17^th St. Canal during Katrina, and in the aftermath she focused her distress-generated energy on writing an amazing cookbook:  Ruby Slippers:  Life, Family, Culture and Food after Katrina. 

The genesis of the book was her sadness at loosing all of the handwritten recipes she had received from her family and from my sister Janet (her mother-in-law), who is a fantastic cook.  In Ruby Slippers she reconstructs those recipes, and adds dozens more from favorite New Orleans restaurants. (To order a copy, go to Amy’s website: http://www.rubyslippersnola.com/home.htm). Below is her King Cake recipe:

½ cup warm water (115 degrees)

2 packages active dry yeast

½ cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar, in all

3 ½ to 4 ½ cups flour, unsifted

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon lemon zest (grated lemon rind)

½ cup warm milk

5 egg yolks

1 stick butter cut into slices and softened, plus 2 tablespoons more softened butter

1 egg slightly beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Egg wash

1 one-inch plastic baby doll or bean

Icing:

3 cups powdered sugar

¼ cup lemon juice

3 to 6 tablespoons water

green, yellow and purple colored sugars

Pour warm water into a small bowl.  Sprinkle yeast and 2 teaspoons of sugar on water surface and allow the mixture to rest for three minutes.  Then mix thoroughly.  Set bowl in a warm area until yeast bubbles and the mixture almost doubles in volume. 

In another bowl, combine 3½ cups of flour, remaining sugar, nutmeg and salt.  Sift into a large mixing bowl.  Stir in lemon zest.  Make a hole in the center of the mixture and pour in the yeast mix and milk.  Add egg yolks. 

Using a wooden spoon, slowly combine dry ingredients into the yeast and milk mixture. When mixture is smooth, beat in 8 tablespoons butter adding it one at a time.  Continue to beat for 2 minutes, or until dough can be shaped into a ball. 

Place ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and knead like bread.  While kneading, sprinkle up to 1 cup more of flour one tablespoon at a time over the dough.  The dough will begin to feel dry and less sticky.  Keep kneading for about ten minutes until it is shiny.  Brush the dough with softened butter.  Cover and allow to rise for over an hour.  It should be double the size after rising. 

Remove dough from bowl and place on lightly floured surface and punch it down.  Sprinkle cinnamon over the top, pat and shape the dough into long strands.  Create a twist or a braid and create a circle.  Place on a buttered baking sheet and lest rest for an hour or until it doubles in size again.  Brush the cake with egg white and bake in a 375 over for 30 minutes until golden brown.  Cool and put the bean or plastic baby inside the cake. 

To make the icing, combine sugar, lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of water until smooth.  If icing is too stiff, add more water.  Spread the icing over the top of cake and immediately sprinkle heavily with colored sugars (purple, green and gold). 

If you are in a hurry, or are making this with children, you can cheat and use canned Crescent rolls or biscuits flattened out into a rectangle, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar (you can also add cream cheese and fruit fillings at this point) and rolled up into a long rope instead. Make into a circle, bake and cover with icing and sugar as above. Not a real king cake, but fun and easy.

St. Francisville Plantations

[caption id="attachment_471" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Myrtles Plantation, included on the list of America's Most Haunted Homes"][/caption]

Spring in the South.  Doesn’t' that sound inviting in the midst of this coldest-of-all-winters-on-record-in-a-long-time?  Magnolia trees blooming, birds chirping, warm breezes – are you longing for that sort of spring?

[caption id="attachment_472" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Catalpa Plantation"][/caption]

If you're looking for a warm escape with a nice little mix of historic luxury thrown in, we have just the place for you - St. Francisville, Louisiana.

You might know St. Francisville as the home of Grandmother's Buttons Jewelry.  Did you also know that the West Feliciana Parish & St. Francisville boast more plantations, open for public tours, in one area than anywhere else in Louisiana?  It's true.  There are seven plantation homes within a 12 mile radius of St. Francisville, each with it's own unique history and architecture (http://bit.ly/fVbZFE) .

Interested?  We've created an overview of some of the homes here – in a later post we'll give you in-depth info on each individual property.

[caption id="attachment_474" align="alignright" width="298" caption="Cottage Plantation"][/caption]

For starters, there's Catalpa Plantation (http://bit.ly/fFwDSK), a Victorian cottage significant for the beautiful gardens that surround it.  Devastated during the Civil War, the house was rebuilt in 1885 and is filled with paintings and treasures from the original home.

If you need a place to sleep, try the Cottage Plantation (www.cottageplantation.com), a bed and breakfast where you can enjoy plantation life in one of the few remaining complete antebellum plantation complexes.  We love that Andrew Jackson was a guest at the Cottage on his way to Natchez after the Battle of New Orleans.

[caption id="attachment_476" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Greenwood Plantation"][/caption]

There's also Greenwood Plantation (http://www.greenwoodplantation.com/), originally built in the 1830's as a 3,000 acre plantation, or Myrtle's Plantation (http://myrtlesplantation.com/), built in 1796 and often described as one of "America's Most Haunted Homes."

If you're a fan of the drawings of John James Audubon, you'll want to be sure to schedule a visit to Oakley House circa 1806 (http://bit.ly/hOQzzm), where Audobon taught painting to the daughter of the owners of Oakley House.  While there, he began 32 bird paintings that eventually became part of his Birds of America.

 

[caption id="attachment_478" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Oakley House"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_480" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Rosedown Plantation"][/caption]

For the ultimate in size and historical scope, visit Rosedown Plantation, built in 1834, (

http://bit.ly/hYICDU).  Its distinguished by the size, shape and sophistication of its pleasure gardens.  The gardens were the passion of Martha Turnbull and her garden diary provides invaluable insight into the story of the garden's planting and management.  With 18 acres of ornamental pleasure gardens, this plantation includes one of the earliest collections of camellias in the Deep South.



St. Francisville, Louisiana.  Home to rich history, beautiful plantations AND Grandmother's Buttons.  Come to see us this Spring – we promise we won't let it snow on your vacation.

Grandmother's Buttons Button Museum

[caption id="attachment_407" align="alignleft" width="298" caption="18th Century Buttons, including one worn to George Washington's inauguration"][/caption]

Button, Button, Who's got the button? Did you ever play that game as a child?

Well, at Grandmother's Buttons, we definitely have the button – we even have a very rare George Washington inaugural button, worn by a delegate to our first president's inauguration. And we don't have it hidden in a safe somewhere – we've got it displayed in our Button Museum.

Yes, of course, there's a Button Museum at Grandmother's Buttons. After we purchased our historic town's original bank building in St. Francisville, Louisiana, we created the Button Museum. Housed in the old bank vault, the Museum may well be one of the smallest and most uniquely placed museums in the country, inhabiting a tiny 10-foot square space (buttons are quite small as well, you know. . .).

The Museum was an immediate hit upon opening, and it's been featured in Victoria, Country Home, Southern Living and Southern Accent magazines. It's eight cases display thousands of antique fasteners dated from the 1760's through the 1930's.

[caption id="attachment_409" align="alignright" width="299" caption="The quote on the wall is Charles Dickens on Victorian buttons, “There is surely something satisfying in seeing the smallest thing done so thoroughly.”"][/caption]

The case holding the George Washington button contains other 18^th century buttons – a time when buttons were only worn by men. From a sought-after Wedgwood to an unusual “habitat” button (which captured bits of seaweed and shell under glass), this case demonstrates the ends to which men would go to decorate themselves.

Late nineteenth century buttons grace five cases, depicting subjects as diverse as Shakespeare's Juliett, Little Red Riding Hood, a Roman warrior, a giraffe and a Balmoral castle. Button design exploded during that time, and women, finally given the opportunity to use them, decorated their opulent gowns with every imaginable design available.

[caption id="attachment_411" align="alignleft" width="296" caption="The botton boxes and tins that started it all, with hundreds of historic buttons and photos"][/caption]

Then we have our nostalgia case. The button boxes belonged to our owner, Susan Davis' mother and grandmother - those would be the buttons that started it all at Grandmother's Buttons. There's also a World War I soldier's locket button, a Victorian “charm string”, a set of 19^th century French button molds – we love the variety and history contained in this case. 

And finally, we have our 20^th century buttons. When Bakelite was invented in 1907, the bold colors and designs available created another explosion of button design, this time with a veritable farmers market of celluloid fruits, vegetables and flowers, as well as roosters, lobsters, fish, pencils. After surviving the Depression and World Wars I and II, novelty buttons were all the rage. These buttons now often command higher prices than the older Victorian buttons.

Obviously we think buttons are great fun, and they have a special place in history. Drop by and visit the Button Museum – it just might feel like an afternoon spent with your grandmother. And what could be better?

[caption id="attachment_414" align="aligncenter" width="296" caption="Early 20th Century Buttons - Colorful and Whimsical!"][/caption]

Loretta's in Lafayette, LA - January Retailer of the Month

[caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Lorettas' Grandmother's Buttons Display"][/caption]At Grandmother's Buttons, we're nothing without our retailers.  They're the folks out there who get our jewelry displayed, promoted and in the hands of customers who love it. 

So we decided we'd start naming a retailer of the month and giving you all the information you need to locate that retailer.  This month we chose Loretta's, located at 504 Guilbeau Rd. Suite D Lafayette, LA.  70506 (337-984-5161).  Ask for Loretta or Stephanie when you call.

Loretta's found us at the Dallas Market last winter.  They chose Grandmother's Buttons because it's such a unique line.  Loretta says, "We knew our customers would love this line - it's so versatile - people can just buy individual button earrings or necklaces and add to their existing jewelry, or they can create their own unique piece." 

Loretta's is a boutique that's been in business for 8 years selling cosmetics, skincare, perfumes, jewelry, handbags and other accessories.  They've expanded to 2 locations, offering a personal touch and customer service that can't be found at larger stores.  

Loretta says they've found that the best way to display Grandmother's Buttons jewelry is to create a very vintage-looking space and display.  "This draws attention to the jewewlry and reminds customers what the jewelry's made of. "

Any piece with lockets seems to sell the best, and the low price point makes Grandmother's Buttons a line that easily pleases customers.

We asked Loretta if she had any suggestions for us:  "Your customer service is great!  We think the line would do especially well if the lockets and fleur de lis charms were sold individually so they could be added on a chain with the buttons so that customers could make their own necklace.  People love to make their own jewelry.  

So if the charms were individual, the customer would have that versatility.  We also have a lot of customers ask for some type of charm bracelet where they could add the buttons and charms on as they collect them."

Great ideas, Loretta.  We will, as always, try to do everything we can to make the line easier to sell.  Thanks for all your nice comments, and thanks for being Grandmother's Buttons' first retailer of the month.

If you get a chance, drop by Loretta's and congratulate her!  Don't forget to admire her gorgeous Grandmother's Buttons display.

Staci's Favorite Necklace

Staci Beauchamp is an energetic mother of four (the oldest in college and the youngest in middle school) who has at one time or another worn most of the hats in our wholesale division:  shipping manager, customer service, booth design, website management, and jewelry production and design.  She is our go-to person for clever problem solving; if we have somehow painted ourselves into a corner (hey, it happens), we often look to Staci to figure a way out. 

Most surprising fact about Staci?  Though she looks petite, she is capable of driving a six-wheel pick up truck and enormous horse trailer from Louisiana to Wyoming for the national rodeo (all of her kids participate in local and regional rodeos).  She and her husband Russell live on a nearby farm with their kids, four dogs, five horses, a pen of chickens and the occasional 4-H pig.

Staci's favorite Grandmother's Buttons piece is our mother-of-pearl button necklace/bracelet, the 01-BN199S.  She loves it because:  "It's so light weight and versatile--I can wear it with all sorts of necklines, or remove the bottom part and wear it as a charm bracelet.  It reminds me of the dresses my mother made me when I was a child--all those beautiful, real mother-of-pearl buttons!" 

We actually find these buttons in just the sort of tins and boxes Staci's mother and grandmother used to keep their loose buttons in.  Each is a little one-of-a-kind button collection of its own.

Top Ten Reasons to be in St. Francisville, Louisiana this weekend!

[caption id="attachment_144" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dancing Santas in the St. Francisville Parade - Photo by Patrick Walsh"][/caption]

1.    Santa Claus will be there (at the tree lighting ceremony on Friday night, at Breakfast with St. Nick on Saturday morning, and riding in a sleigh in Saturday afternoon's parade).

2.    The Baton Rouge Symphony will perform its annual concert of holiday selections on Friday night.

3.    Grandmother's Buttons will have crazy bargains at St. Francisville's annual Christmas in the Country Sale!

4.    You can Peep Into Holiday Homes from 6 – 8 p.m. Friday (it's a rare chance to view some amazingly decorated homes along Ferdinand and Royal streets).

[caption id="attachment_147" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Photo by Patrick Walsh"][/caption]

5.    The Women’s Service League will sell fresh wreaths and pre-wrapped Plantation Country Cookbooks all weekend on Ferdinand St. next to the library, with proceeds benefiting local civic and charitable activities.

6.    Grandmother's Buttons will sell earrings starting at $5 and necklaces starting at $10 all day Saturday!

7.    Jimmy Heidel of the original 1967 New Orleans Saints team will be one of the parade's grand marshalls.

8.   Photographer Bevil Knapp will be signing copies of her book, "St. Francisville:  Louisiana's River Bluff Country", at Hillcrest on Friday afternoon and Grandmother's Buttons from 10 to 2 on Saturday.

9.    There will be a Community Sing-a-long at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the United Methodist Church on Royal St., and a Live Nativity, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the First Baptist Church on US 61 at LA 10.

[caption id="attachment_143" align="alignleft" width="286" caption="Bargain hunters at last year's Grandmother's Buttons sale"][/caption]10.    The prices at Grandmother's Buttons will make you feel like Christmas arrived three weeks early!

Yes, we know we listed Grandmother's Buttons Christmas in the Country Sale bargains three times, but honestly, this is the one time of year when you can get unheard of prices on beautiful, heirloom-quality jewelry. It's a one-day sale with tables set up outside the store on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m.

In previous years, we've had almost 100 women lined up for the opening (no one is even allowed to peak at the tables before then) and we'll sell until dark. It's sort of like our much-smaller version of the annual tent sales Vera Bradley does in Indiana.

We'll be selling discontinued jewelry pieces, lots of beaded earrings, and some real antique button treasures, including a few trays of sterling rings and some watches. This year we're even selling a couple of our sterling pieces. We'll literally sell thousands of pieces in that one day--it's intense but a lot of fun for us and for our shoppers.

[caption id="attachment_150" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bins and bins of Grandmother's Buttons bargains!"][/caption]Susan's the queen of finding the great deal. Raised by a mother who had to find ingenious ways to dress four daughters at one time on a farm income, Susan learned early on how to be an avid sale shopper and a bargain hunter. She says, “I grew up loving the thrill of the bargain hunt, which probably led directly to me loving the hunt for old buttons!”

If you need details on all St. Francisville events scheduled for this weekend, you'll find them at http://stfrancisville.blogspot.com/. And we've added the blog as a link on this site, so that you can subscribe and get all the ongoing news about our fabulous town.

[caption id="attachment_152" align="alignleft" width="226" caption="The mosh pit at last year's Christmas in the Country Sale"][/caption]

We love the holidays. We love a bargain. And we'd love to see you this weekend in St. Francisville, preferably in that line waiting for us to open on Saturday morning! We guarantee you'll have a great time.

Grandmother's Buttons - Sterling Collection

[caption id="attachment_101" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="New Sterling Collection on Display"][/caption]Silver, red, green, and gold. The colors of Christmas.  At Grandmother's Buttons this year, though, we're focusing on silver, sterling silver.  We're celebrating our 25^th anniversary (that's the silver one, you know) with a new line of antique buttons set in sterling - one-of-a-kind treasures created with our rarest and loveliest antique buttons.

For most of the past 25 years, Susan and Grandmother's Buttons have fashioned eclectic and vintage-feeling jewelry using materials similar to those found in the antique buttons themselves--stamped brass findings, jeweled glass cabochons, mother-of-pearl--as well as an assortment of lustrous beads and antique-styled chain.  

[caption id="attachment_136" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Sterling Enamel Piece"][/caption]The result has been an accessible and unique line:  higher-end costume jewelry with an antique element.  The company has sold thousands of such pieces of jewelry, using tens of thousands of buttons, through retail stores and boutiques as close as New Orleans and as far away as New Zealand.  The Grandmother’s Buttons retail store, set as it is in rural Louisiana, has drawn celebrities such as Hilary Swank, Jennifer Love Hewitt and John Malkovich to shop there

[caption id="attachment_103" align="alignleft" width="174" caption="Sterling Rings and Pendants. Susan says, “We’ve had a customer for a higher-end, well-crafted sterling line for some time. These rarer buttons—French enamels, large Victorian picture buttons, facetted steel—deserve to be hand-set in precious metal, but we only recently discovered a workshop overseas that we felt confident could do the type of work we wanted.”"][/caption]

If you're looking for the perfect gift to put under the tree for someone you love, think silver. Grandmother's Buttons sterling silver. Ordering the exact button you love the most is easy on our website,  www.grandmothersbuttons.com, because we have photographed several dozen individual pieces for both our retail and wholesale sites.  

You will receive the exact button you choose, along with a button description card and Certificate of Authenticity.  In many cases, we have duplicates of the buttons listed displayed in our Button Museum.

By the way, we had a Champagne Open House at Grandmother's Buttons earlier this month to celebrate our anniversary.  See tomorrow's blog post for photos of our staff and friends in the midst of the revelry!

[caption id="attachment_107" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Display Case of Sterling Pendants"][/caption]