Nebraska State Day 2015: Screened In Porch Event

On September 19, 2015, the Omaha-Council Bluffs Miniature Guild hosted the 22nd Annual Nebraska State Day. This year, the project was "Screened In Porch," and it was a beauty! We had 32 participants from 8 states: Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota, Georgia, Minnesota, Kansas, and Wisconsin. I'm very proud that Nebraska State Day draws in so many miniaturists from so many locations. It's a really fantastic event, and our State Day Committee deserves a standing ovation. Well done!

Everything each person needed to make his or her own screened-in porch was waiting in boxes at each table. Instructions, supplies, and words of encouragement were all ready to go:

There were 9 display kits that were put together in advance to look at for examples. Each porch was so unique, so it was really fun to imagine the different possibilities for these kits:

Once again, we had an outstanding set of raffle items. Thank you to everyone who contributed something for this fun opportunity:

And a big thank to you our sister group, the Shoe Box Bunch, for contributing an item as well:

We had three vendors this year who provided a wide range of goodies. Marie Bound had miniatures, kits, and grab bags:

Ron Chase also had kits and furniture to fit the porch theme:

Ron's clocks are incredible! Look at these beauties:

Harlan Schleuter had a large table with a range of building supplies, his own creations, flowers by Del Faris, and some items from the estate of Wanda Leighton:

It's not easy being a vendor and bringing all of the supplies in to sell, so I can't emphasize enough how grateful we are that these people took the time to share their goods with us. THANK YOU!

Meanwhile, the participants worked away on their kits. Each screened area came with a template to follow, which made things much easier. Our brilliant committee made the patterns and then provided wax paper to put over top, so you could glue the pieces together and then use the pattern again later. Very helpful:

Busy mini bees were buzzing all day long:

We'll admit it -- this kit was trickier than last year's "Create a Shop," but a little perseverance was all we needed:

Per usual, there was a healthy mix of colors in the room. This builder used a lovely lavender:

The main structure was made of strong foam core board, which is a great building material for room boxes. Harlan brought some small table saws to help people cut out the holes for the interior doors. Thank you, Harlan! You can see the door openings with these lovely ladies. The door leads to the hidden interior of the house, which could be on the back or the side of the porch, depending on preference:

We had a delicious catered lunch this year so that we could stay at the church and get back to work more easily. With a light breakfast snack in the morning and snacks and drinks throughout the day, we were very well fed and cared for. Then it was back to working on kits:

I really liked the tool caddies these ladies brought. They said they found them at Michael's:

The State Day committee always boggles my mind with the things they think to include with the kits. We all received this bag stuffed to the brim with everything you could possibly need to work on miniatures. Fantastic:

Throughout the day, we received special gifts, tote bags, and gift exchange presents. This is just a small example of some of the amazing presents:

I was very excited to see the 2015 placard because it's so easy to forget which year you made a build:

Such beautiful things from so many wonderful, generous people. THANK YOU:

OCBMG would like to recognize and thank the Nebraska State Day Committee: Lois Andres, Edna Bonney, Del Faris, Georgia Gregg, Kathy Hall, Syd Hulla, Harlan Schleuter, and Ada Vicars. Great job -- as usual!!

And now it's time to start planning all over again! We proudly present the Nebraska State Day 2016 project: "Cozy Nook":

So cozy, so fun!! Stay tuned for more details about this event that I'll be posting here soon. Remember, you don't have to be a NAME member or a member of our groups to participate -- everyone is welcome.

Thank you again to the Faith Presbyterian Church for hosting our event! We'll see you next year!