Now I remember why I was saving up all those uniquely strange buttons! I remembered seeing this on here before and now that i have seen it i wished I had a hat because I have all the buttons... Now to find a perfect hat and some gears! Lucky you that you found such a connection on getting them! I cannot even begin to think where I might find such things around here where I live!
What's steampunk.. good questions. I have to say until you asked I would have a hard time defining it - its a style as far as I can tell. But, thanks to wikipedia, you can read up on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
Great job on the hat by the way!