UPDATE: Sold-Out with Wait List: Nebraska State Day 2018: Sign Up Info

UPDATE: Wow! What a response! We are currently SOLD OUT for 2018 Nebraska State Day. However, we're going to keep a Wait List in case of cancellations. If you'd like a spot on the Wait List, let us know. See contact information at the bottom of this post.

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2018 is the 25th Anniversary of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Miniature Guild's Annual Nebraska State Day, and we have a real treat to help us celebrate. The kit is called "Crafter's Workshop," and it includes an acrylic case to keep the kitties dust out. This event will take place on September 15, 2018, in LaVista, Nebraska. If you aren't sure what Nebraska State Day is, you can learn about our previous events by clicking HERE.

Let's take a closer look at the "Crafter's Workshop," shall we? I spy a sink for washing all of your miniature paint brushes:

Every workshop needs a nice big desk for the crafter to spill and clutter things on!:

It looks like this crafter has a common problem--leaving Unfinished Objects around the room. Haven't we all been there?:

The scene fits nicely in the bottom of the acrylic case:

With the case on, everything is protected and dust-free:

It's a perfect, little room to show off anywhere in your Real Life house or take somewhere to display:

This crafter works in a brick building. Is it a house? A rented room? Part of an office? Hmmm... So many options for fun backstories:

Here are the details:

"Crafter's Workshop"

25th Annual Nebraska State Day

September 15, 2018

8:30am to 4pm

Faith Presbyterian Church

8100 Giles Road

LaVista, NE 68127
You do NOT need to be a member of NAME
to participate in this event!

Registration: $75.00 (includes morning coffee, lunch, project, tote bag, souvenir gift, and more). This event is limited to 35 registrants. Cancellation/refund no later than August 15, 2018.

Gift Exchange: Make 21 miniatures (all alike) that would go into the Crafter's Workshop (no kits or printies, please) and if you participate you will take home 21 gifts for your Crafter's Workshop. This is NOT mandatory, but it's a lot of fun. You don't want to miss it!

Make check payable to: Nebraska State Day
Mail to: Ada Vicars, 13412 Montclaire Drive, Omaha, NE 68144


For further information about Nebraska State Day 2018, please contact:

• Edna Bonney: embonney@abbnebraska.com or (402) 426-4624
• Lois Andres: jlalea1@cox.net or (402) 894-4824

You can also leave a comment here, and I will direct your questions to the proper people.

Dealers: Please let us know if you're interested in being a dealer. To be a dealer, you must be a registrant OR pay a fee of $35.00 per 8 foot table. We really love having dealers at our event--thank you so much for being there!!!

See you at the event!

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On a personal note, I'm really proud of my fellow Omaha-Council Bluffs Miniature Guild members for putting on such an amazing event 25 years in a row!!! That's an impressive run--especially when it takes so much work and planning to put these events together. The Nebraska State Day Committee members work all year long to make it such a special day. BRAVO for 25 years of service! On behalf of anyone who has ever been to a Nebraska State Day, THANK YOU!

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!

Nebraska State Day 2017: Sign Up Info

It's that time of year again -- time to sign up for Nebraska State Day! The 2017 project is "Grandma's Attic." It's the perfect project for all of those random minis you've been hoarding collecting for years. This builder found a place for old family treasures. I spy some relative photographs tucked between the rafters:

Or perhaps a stubborn critter has broken in to the attic? It could certainly be home to a family of raccoons. Maybe there could be a little hole in the siding here at the top?

And there's a window... Hmmm... Perhaps a ghostly figure lives up in the attic and can be seen on moonless nights peeking out of the window....?

So many possibilities! We invite you to come join in on the fun! Take a look at our previous Nebraska State Day events by clicking HERE.

Here are the details:

"Grandma's Attic"

24th Annual Nebraska State Day

September 16, 2017

8:30am to 4pm

Faith Presbyterian Church

8100 Giles Road

LaVista, NE 68127
You do NOT need to be a member of NAME
to participate in this event!

Registration: $75.00 (includes morning coffee, lunch, project, tote bag, souvenir gift, and more). This event is limited to 35 registrants, and the deadline for registration is August 15, 2017. Cancellation/refund no later than September 1, 2017.

Gift Exchange: Make 21 miniatures (all alike) that would go into the Attic (no kits or printies) and if you participate you will take home 21 gifts for your Attic. This is NOT mandatory, but it's a lot of fun -- you really don't want to miss out on it.

Make check payable to: Nebraska State Day
Mail to: Ada Vicars, 13412 Montclaire Drive, Omaha, NE 68144


For further information about Nebraska State Day 2017, please contact:

• Edna Bonney: embonney@abbnebraska.com or (402) 426-4624
• Lois Andres: jlalea1@cox.net or (402) 894-4824

You can also leave a comment here, and I will direct your questions to the proper people. Please let us know if you're interested in being a vendor (must be a registrant). It's always fun to be able to shop for your project immediately!

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On behalf of my fellow OCBMG members, I'd like to thank all of our fantastic State Day committee members for planning this special event. You do a great job, and I know this project will be as wonderful as always! THANK YOU!

Nebraska State Day 2016: Cozy Nook Event

On September 18, 2016, the Omaha-Council Bluffs Miniature Guild hosted the 23nd Annual Nebraska State Day. This year, the project was "Cozy Nook." We had 32 participants (plus committee members) from 7 states: Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, and Wisconsin. We also had two international guests this year from Canada and England. We know that it's a long journey for many of our participants, and we're so happy you took the time to come mini with us. Once again, our Nebraska State Day Committee really knocked it out of the park. Let's dive in to see the goodies!

As always, the committee members had everything perfectly sorted and arranged in individual fruit boxes. Below, you can see a strawberry box with the kit that was waiting for us at our tables. These kinds of boxes are fantastic for travel or transportation of delicate minis or builds. (TIP: Check with your local grocery store to see if they have any fruit shipping containers that they don't need or to see if they can start setting some aside for you):

The committee members used their fantastic imaginations to craft sample nooks for our guests to see. It's so helpful to be able to go look at the completed kits if you ever get stuck. (TIP: Take a LOT of photos of samples at mini shows or events so you can go back and look at the details later. How does the window go together?? Oh yes, I have a close-up picture! HOORAY!!):

One of our participants brought us a HAPPY NEBRASKA STATE DAY banner that we were proud to add to the display table:

More examples to admire:

It's always so fun to participate in a good raffle:

OCBMG would like to thank everyone who donated these wonderful miniatures to the raffle -- and offer congratulations to every lucky winner:

The room was buzzing with activity:

It was fun to walk around the room to see what everyone was making:

The committee members were always ready to help out. Here you can see Lois Andres demonstrating how to put together the peaked window area:

This year we had three vendors who provided many fun goodies to fill up the nooks. From right to left, we had Harlan Schleuter from Miniature World and Ron Chase from D-Tales Miniatures:

Marie Bound also had a table with a wide array of miniatures:

The committee provided a continental breakfast at the beginning of the day and a delicious pizza and salad lunch midway through. In the afternoon, we received snacks and drinks. Meanwhile, everyone was dutifully working on our kits:

The souvenir gift from the committee was a vegetable set made by Pat Richmond of Twin Heart. Included: celery, carrot, green onion, cabbage, tomato, green pepper, potato, and garlic. Pat's vegetables are incredibly realistic. You can even slice the cabbage open to see the mini leaves throughout the core. We also received a marble-topped bistro table set and a cardinal made by Barbara Meyer of mini-gems. All of Barbara's birds are always such a treat! We're so proud to have talented, miniature artisans there with us in spirit on our special day:

Each participant received a totebag with miniatures from OCBMG and Shoe Box Bunch members (We're so grateful to our sister group for contributing). Here are some examples of totebag gifts, including a window box and wall shelf to add to the nook:

More totebag items:

And even more totebag items:

Each year, we have an optional 21 Gift Exchange. You can make 21 gifts to exchange, and you'll get 20 items back. Here are some examples of exchange gifts:

More exchange gifts:

And even more exchange gifts:

So fun to see hand-crocheted minis up close:

Because of the way the exchange works, not everyone receives the same items, but at least 20 people received individualized stained glass window hangings from Sharon Hammell (IGMA) of Vancouver BC, Canada:

As we were walking out the door, a committee member handed us surprise brown paper bags filled with a bunch of minis and kits. WHEE!! Lots to work with here:

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. Thank you so much for your hard work, dedication, and generous spirits!!!! And extra special thanks to Ron Chase for donating so many of the raffle gifts this year!!

Want to know what we're going to make next year? We proudly present the Nebraska State Day 2017 project "Grandma's Attic":

Stay tuned to see more photos and get more information about Nebraska State Day 2017. I'll be sharing the details soon!! Remember, you don't have to be a NAME member or a member of our groups 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!