Nebraska State Day 2017: Grandma's Attic Event

On September 16, 2017, the Omaha Council-Bluffs Miniature Guild hosted the 24th Annual Nebraska State Day. This year, the project was "Grandma's Attic." Every miniaturist has a bunch of great minis lying around that haven't found the perfect home yet, so this project is the solution to that problem! This year, we had 34 guests (plus Committee members) from 6 states: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, and South Dakota. We also had an international guest from Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thank you for coming to spend the day with us!!!

As usual, the Nebraska State Day Committee set up a table of example projects to help us know how the completed kit was intended to look. It's always fun to see how people can arrange similar minis in such different ways:

The inside of the attic has newspaper walls and exposed, unfinished studs and rafters, which really adds some magic to the setting:

Here is a kind gentleman taking a stroll down memory lane with an old photo album. And yes, that IS the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story":

Siding, shingles, and trims were all provided for the exterior:

The window and flower box was included as well:

There was a fantastic raffle:

Here is one of the raffle items--a beautiful Halloween table donated by Carol Krystof, who makes incredible miniature food:

We had four vendors this year: Ron Chase of D-Tales Miniatures, Sue Fortney, Carol Krystof, and Sondra Klingbeil. We really love having vendors at our events so we can buy a bunch of special goodies to remember the day. Thank you so much for being at Nebraska State Day! Here is Ron's table, which also included items from Harlan Schleuter of Miniature World:

After a continental breakfast, we got going and kept at it full-steam until the catered lunch arrived:

You can almost hear the buzz of concentration in the air:

The Committee members were extremely helpful and offered support, advice, instructions, and friendly smiles throughout the event:

OCBMG members know how to put together some really fantastic totebags. Here are some of the totebag goodies--all of which fit right into the attic setting nicely:

And more totebag goodies:

And more totebag goodies:

We also host a 21-gift exchange for anyone who wants to participate. Here are some of the exchange gifts:

And more exchange gifts:

And more exchange gifts:

The Committee had two wonderful surprise gifts for us this year. The first one is a blue baby stroller from the Committee, and the second is a fantastic trunk with tray by Harlan Schlueter. Thank you for these special, hand-crafted beauties:

We also received candy bars from Edna Perkins, afternoon snacks, and free drinks. One can never have too many snacks while miniaturing, so we were all very happy to be well fed and watered.

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. You're all amazing--thank you for sharing your talents with us and giving us such a treasured day.

Next year is the 25th Annual Nebraska State Day, and we have something very special to celebrate this milestone. We proudly present the Nebraska State Day 2018 project "Crafter's Workshop":

Stay tuned to see more photos and get more information about Nebraska State Day 2018. I'll be sharing more photographs and the details soon. Remember, you don't have to be a NAME member or a member of OCBMG to participate -- everyone is welcome!

Thank you to everyone who came to mini with us!  

And a HUGE thank you again to the Faith Presbyterian Church for hosting our event! We'll see you next year!