2025 Artist Insights: Cute as a Button

All aboard!

Keepsake Artist Terri Steiger keeps the Cute as a Button series on track.

Cute as a Button
Special Edition

When now-retired Keepsake Artist Nina Aubé introduced the Cute as a Button series in 2023, she started with the idea of little hamsters living in a big world, using buttons in creative and festive ways to celebrate the season.

Since Nina’s retirement, Keepsake Artist Terri Steiger has stepped up to ensure the adventures of these adorable characters continue! This year, her new Cute as a Button Special Edition Keepsake Ornament releases at Ornament Premiere in limited quantities.

Taking over another artist’s vision for a series can be tricky, but Terri is making the transition look easy and she’s doing it with her typical humility.

Terri shares, “This is really my first try at doing cute critters. It’s a lot of pressure taking on this series from Nina because she’s been our Keepsake ‘Queen of Cuteness’ and she’s always had such great storytelling abilities. It will definitely be a challenge to fill her shoes!

Cute as a Button
3rd in the series.

“I was fortunate to have some of Nina’s sketches to work from, and those were helpful in giving me a good start. The critter in the train car is a new design for me, as is the train car itself with the little guy’s Christmas tree. I thought it would be cute to add a younger critter-and maybe even a sidekick for future ornaments. That’s an idea, but l’m not sure what our plan is yet so no promises!

“The button wheels you see on this Special Edition car will also appear on the train’s engine in the third ornament of the series that releases at Ornament Debut in October.

“I hope we’ll do more train cars in the future-it would be a fun opportunity to do some critter friends in different cars that would hang together-but stay tuned along with me to find out. I just hope to deliver cute-as-a-button characters that will delight collectors!”