Buttons for Ukraine

We began offering Ukrainian flag buttons on our Etsy shop last week but wanted to find a unique way to support Ukrainians fighting for their freedom, and those impacted by the war. We hired a consultant artist, 7-year-old Amelia, to help us design some pins to raise funds. First grader Amelia is an experienced button artist and producer who felt hearts, peace signs, and two children sharing a toy best communicated her hope for Ukraine. She had strong opinions about the look of the final product and two designs are available featuring her artwork.

Proceeds from these buttons will support Voices of Children, a Ukraine-based nonprofit organization meeting the needs of children impacted by war. We researched multiple organizations working on the ground in Ukraine, but are particularly moved by this organization’s focus on serving children, in both long-term and emergency capacities. Their use of art therapy to support children who have experienced trauma speaks to our hearts as artists and parents. Please consider donating directly to support their work.

These buttons are available in sizes ranging from 1 inch to 3.5 inch, and a 2 inch square. You can also get this artwork on a fridge magnet, badge magnet or pocket mirror. Bulk orders are available, so if you’d like more than ten, drop us a line! Our friends at First Congregational Church purchased 100 of these pins for distribution at Sunday services and received a wonderful response from the congregation. As always, these union label buttons are designed, printed and produced in Topeka, Kansas with parts and presses exclusively made in the USA.

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Ukraine Pins!

We have a collection of buttons designed to show support for Ukraine as they fight for their freedom. A percentage of sales from these buttons will be donated to The Voices of Children Foundation.

“The Voices of Children Foundation has been helping children affected by the war since 2015. Thanks to you, we provide psychological and psychosocial support to children. It helps them overcome the consequences of armed conflict and develop. Today, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are providing non-stop assistance to affected children and families from all over the country, providing emergency psychological assistance, and assisting in the evacuation process.”

Two of these designs were created by a special guest artist, seven-year-old Amelia, who is passionate about peace and showing her support with two designs featuring hearts, peace signs, and children sharing.

But if you’re feeling a bit more salty, we have other options. As with our other designs, these are union label buttons designed, printed and pressed in Topeka, Kansas with parts made in the USA. Order them on Etsy or contact us for bulk orders.

Let’s see those smiles! Photo buttons make it happen.

We’re safer with masks, but in service-oriented professions, masks can make it hard to feel connected! Businesses have started ordering photo buttons to allow people to see their smiling faces while everyone stays safe. This great idea is something we can help with at Meadowlark Graphics.

Designing a Photo Button

Photo buttons can include staff names, like the ones we made for Hamilton, Wilson & Hendricks Orthodontics, your organization’s logo, or anything else you would like. You provide the photos, but we can take the design from there, or provide your finished artwork.

Choosing the Right Photos

A good photo for a photo button will be a high quality, high resolution photo with lots of space around the person’s face to fill the circle.

A few things to avoid: photos with close cropping don’t work well on circles! The more space around the person’s face to fill the button, the better. Low resolution photos, or photos with distractions close to the subject, produce a less professional button.

Photo Badge Magnets = No Holes!

We can also produce photo badge magnets with sturdy magnet backs to avoid holes in clothing. You can even mix and match between buttons and badge magnets to give everyone what they want!

Why get them from us?

Ordering photo buttons from many buttons suppliers is difficult or impossible, because they have large minimums or won’t let you order multiple designs. We’re not like that. We have no minimums and you can use as many designs as you would like, and still get quantity discounts!

We also use steel parts and mylar coatings on our buttons, so they can be easily sanitized with most cleaners (we’ve accidentally sent them through the washing machine many times, although we don’t recommend that method!). Buttons with glossy cardboard on the front and no mylar, or cardboard backing, will not hold up to sanitizing. Many mass produced buttons now use cardboard parts.

Pricing

Click here for our current prices. Standard size buttons range from $0.25-$2 each depending on quantity. Design/setup cost for photo buttons is $5 design/setup for every 25 individual buttons needed. Most orders can be delivered in a week or less depending on quantity.

Topeka Flag Fabric!

Meadowlark Graphics now has a Spoonflower shop to allow some of our designs on fabric, wallpaper and home decor items. Check it out for awesome Top City gifts, just in time for the holidays!

30,000 and Counting!

We started this little button shop when our daughter was born in 2014 and have seen it steadily grow. We were raising kids and making buttons but not keeping a good running count. Supplies would get low and we’d order more, so we knew we were pressing a lot of buttons. Here we are, five years down the line and we decided to look back and tally the buttons up. Drum roll! We’ve made over 30,000 buttons! We’ve had orders as small as 1 and as large as 7,000 and we appreciate each and every one of them. Thank you to every customer who’s contributed to that number and please help us spread the word about Meadowlark Graphics so we can press our next 30,000 in even less time.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MeadowlarkGraphics

Why I Button

How many times have you walked through an antique store and perused the vintage political campaign buttons or looked through a bin of old event buttons at a yard sale?  Heck, how many of us have found old buttons supporting sports teams or marking a community event amongst our parent’s or grandparent’s belongings?  This is why I button.

Buttons are an affordable way to celebrate an event or mark an occasion and they have the added benefit of holding up very well over time.  If someone buys a game program at a ball game the odds are not good for those paper pages to even survive the entire game.  When we get a political mailer it might go on the fridge for the campaign cycle before being recycled.  Buttons, on the other hand, are durable and stand the test of time.

When I’m pressing buttons for the Kansas Ethnic Enrichment Festival I imagine them being saved by the attendee and looked back on with a sense of nostalgia years from now.  I look at the political campaign buttons we create and can’t help but imagine them making their way into an antique booth in thirty years on their way to someone’s personal collection of political ephemera.

I guess I just like the fact that buttons survive and that’s why I button.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MeadowlarkGraphics

It’s More Than Just Buttons!

Recently we rolled out our button designs inspired by the new Topeka flag and were blown away by the number of people who wanted to show their #TopCity love! Some fans requested a badge magnet option and we are happy to announce that you can now order any of our designs as a badge magnet or fridge magnet! You can express yourself without the worry of putting holes in your clothes or you can deck out your office filing cabinet with your favorite designs! These new items are available in our button listings via Etsy or you can contact us directly for bulk orders. Thanks for the feedback. When our fans talk, we listen!

We ❤️ Topeka!

We make no secret of our love for #TopCity! We’re proud to live, work, play and run a small business here in Topeka, Kansas. By popular demand, we have a few new designs featuring the new fab Topeka Flag, and have listed them alongside a few of our old Topeka favorites in our Etsy shop.

What’s the story on the Topeka flag? In 2019, to “reflect Topeka’s changing identity, development, and opportunities” a group of young professionals led a grassroots design process for a new Topeka flag. The community voted on the final design. Design elements include:

• Sunflower – Topeka’s connection as the state capital
• Golden City – Topeka is known as the “Golden City” because of the way the sun washes over the land. The use of the sunflower was inspired by that visual.
• Capital – represented by the five-point star, located where Topeka is on a map
• Ad Astra – “To The Stars Through Difficulty,” a nod to our state motto, represented by the green arrow pointing to the white star; shows forward motion
• Nine Petals – stands for the nine founders of Topeka

Learn more about the flag process.

As always, our buttons are designed, printed and pressed right here in Topeka, Kansas, and local shoppers buying online on our Etsy shop can use code TOPEKADELIVERY at checkout for local, free delivery to any Topeka address.

Shawnee County Dems Have Our Buttons! Get ’em while they last!

Our most popular and newest designs available at the Shawnee County Democratic Headquarters!

Too many times we’ve posted an image of one of our buttons to Facebook or from a booth we were running only to hear our fans ask, “Where can I get that locally?” Not having a brick-and-mortar store sometimes makes buying our products inconvenient. We want our customers to know that we hear them and hope to add more retail partners to help us supply you with the buttons you want.

One such partner is the Shawnee County Democratic Headquarters located at 5350 SW 17th St in Topeka. You can’t make it to Washington Days to see our latest designs? Your “Kansas Democrat” button fell off your jacket? You’ve heard about our popular “Grab Them By The Policy” and “Make America Kind Again” buttons but can’t make it to events we sell at? None of the situations needs to stand between you and your button happiness! Swing by the Shawnee County Democratic Headquarters during their office hours Tuesday through Friday. Know that each button you purchase will help elect candidates who believe in the messages those buttons convey and will aid in raising awareness of progressive issues as we work to turn Kansas blue!

While you’re there take a look around and consider what skills you could contribute to the party. I’m a homemaker raising two little kids while running a button business, so I understand not having a lot of time to contribute. I realized that while I don’t have the time to knock on doors or phone bank, I can use buttons to help the cause. We all have talents and the party needs them all to continue making progress.

We realize people would like our buttons outside of Topeka as well. We’d love to hear from any county democratic offices that are interested in selling our buttons. They serve as a good fundraiser and have the added bonus of putting messaging that aligns with our values into the larger community.

Field Trips Like Buttons!

New designs available at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center gift shop

We are proud to announce that Meadowlark Graphics is now a retail partner of the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center and our buttons can be found in their gift shop!

It makes us warm and fuzzy to know how many kids across our state are taking home a button we produced as a way to remember the places they’ve visited. Buttons last a very long time and we hope they hold a sense of nostalgia for the fun places they visited when they were kids.

Please visit the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center, the Kansas Museum of History, and the Kansas State Capitol for buttons made by Meadowlark Graphics! If you run a gift shop and are interested in an affordable item for your field trippers, please get in touch!