I suspect every grandmother has one - the button box. The box or tin may look different but for children it is filled with fun buttons and things to play with. My grandmother's box has a dragon on it. It had shirt buttons to coat buttons in it. Rarely anything fancy, and nothing valuable, of course. But great fun to slide your fingers through and find matching buttons. Ours also had some curtain pins (watch out for those sharp points) and a medal of the Virgin Mary. Some buttons were from her mother. I have it now and share with my children. It's a little low now as buttons have gone for various projects like button bracelets.
At the thrift store I bought a bag of old mixed buttons from, I suspect, someone else's button box. I feel funny about opening the package and adding them to the 'original' collection. Will I lose contact with my grandmother and great-grandmother? Or is it the idea of a button box that is important?
In thinking of this this morning, I smile as I recall I am well into making my own button box stash: these buttons are the extras attached to purchases from Macy's, Coldwater Creek, Talbot's. Plus ones saved from thrift store purchases that are cut up for crafts.
See Coloradolady's blog for more vintage thingys! Always some wonderful contributions.
Viridian
