Today we had our monthly meeting in which Jan C brought in a miniature craft for us to do.  She brought in clear Christmas balls that we used to make a miniature scene inside.  ​Perfect for our Christmas decorating!  Here is my Christmas ball scene which I finished when I got home.  I enjoyed making this very much and want to extend a heartfelt THANKS to Jan for organizing this project.  Any of you who were there today please send me your pictures of your finished projects so I can post them in our Meetings gallery.

​Janet H is looking into the possibility of holding a Fall rummage sale hosted by our club.  The idea had a lot of support from our members so she is now looking into a venue.  More to come on that later...

We also had a discussion about our next meeting which is just before Christmas and will include our gift exchange.  We came to the decision that we would like to make or buy little miniature gifts for everyone so that we can all take home lots of mini goodies.  I am very much looking forward to making mine.

Looking ahead, Marg L brought forward a suggestion for a Club project to be done next year called a "Kitchen in a Cupboard"  It would be worked on at each meeting to complete the cupboard then we can fill it with whatever we wish.  It should be a fun project to do.

Our next meeting is December 17th.  Please bring a few treats to share for our Christmas potluck snack table.  

October 15th our group met to have a Show and Tell and to make a little 2 tiered cake plate.  Many of our members brought in items that they had made or purchased since our last meeting.  The MET show had taken place on Saturday the 13th of October and a few of our members were able to get there.  It was a great time browsing the tables as always.  I brought in a few of the items I purchased at the MET and a little coffin I had made this year for a Haunted house I am building.  The little coffin has a skeleton inside that sits up when you lift the lid.  It also has a motion activation device that activates sound and light when the lid is lifted.  I made it using an old Halloween decoration I had.

The little cake plate was a lot of fun to build and quite easy to put together.  Little cake slices and squares were given to us to put onto the plate.  Below is a picture showing a plate without the little squares, etc and one with them in place.
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A draw was held to determine who would win this year's membership free.  It was won by Jan C.  Congratulations!!

A discussion was held regarding projects to do that would interest/draw in young people to our hobby. These things could be built and put on our Club display table to show youngsters and their parents what can be done in miniature that they may be interested in doing.  If you have any suggestions please let us know.  One idea was to build a display using action figures that kids love to play with.  Another was to build something out of Lego.  Ideas can be done using dollar store items so that they wouldn't be expensive for the youngster to do.

Next month Jan is going to teach us to make a tiny scene inside of a clear plastic Christmas ornament.  I can't wait!  The meeting will be held on Monday, November 19th. Hope to see you there.

Today the members of our group met for the first official group session after the summer.  Everyone brought in some items they had been working on during the summer to show the others.  It was very nice to catch up with those members that we hadn't seen since the June meeting and it was wonderful to see some of the projects that people have created. 

Here is a small slide show of some of the projects brought in by our members:

​Marg brought in some artisan dolls that were made by a neighbour of hers.  Her son donated them free to whomever wanted any of them as he wanted them to the home of someone who could appreciate them.

We were able to get some of the administrative things done but there are still some positions left to fill and some help needed for the show planning committee.  If you weren't at the meeting today and wish to help out in some way, please contact our group President Janet Harvie to see what positions are still available.

During our group today, we had some unexpected visitors who came to check out the group and see what we do.  Since we had all brought in something to show everyone else, we were able to give them an idea of what goes on in our group.  We are hoping that they enjoyed their visit and wish to come back.

Next meeting we are hoping to do a small project and more will be discussed about that in the next newsletter. Our next meeting is on Monday, October 15th.  Hope to see you there!

​Today a few of us in the Omega group traveled to fellow Omega member Melanie C's house near Turkey point.  There we had a wonderful time looking at all her minis and enjoying a wonderful potluck barbecue.  It was so nice to get together and spend some time getting to know each other. Melanie's home is beautiful and the miniatures were fabulous.  Each one was very different and there were so many themes to view.  Melanie has been doing miniatures since she was approximately 8 years old and has accomplished so much.  Seeing those fabulous minis has fired all of us up to create some more ourselves and we left there feeling a new energy to create.  After leaving Melanie's home, we traveled back to my home to see my minis.  It was a lot of fun showing other miniaturists what I have accomplished since taking up the miniature hobby about 2 years ago.  I am learning something everyday and truly enjoyed seeing what Melanie has done.  Here is a small sample of the minis we saw today at her home:

September is just around the corner and our September meeting is fast approaching.  I can't wait to see everyone again and hear about their summers.  See you all on September 17th!

Today we had our last meeting for the summer.  We decided to have a "show and tell" and members brought in some of their projects they had been working on.  It was wonderful to  see some of the things everyone had been doing for the last little while. Some people brought in items that they had extras of and had a little "give away".  These items were very much appreciated by the recipients.  A new member came to visit today and see how things worked in our group.  A big welcome to Sue who came in from Hamilton. I hope you enjoyed meeting all of us. After snacks and some good conversation, we broke up for the summer.  I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and look forward to seeing everyone in September.    Next meeting: September 17th.
Here is a little bridal scene that I brought to my first meeting of the OMEGA group earlier this year as a project to work on and now I have completed it.
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Monday, we had a great meeting going over everything we had purchased from our Annual show and from the Gathering for those of us that went to it.  A wonderful "Show and Tell"!  Phyllis showed us how to make a paint can and roller though many of us ended up taking ours home to finish them as there were so many things to see and do that we ran out of time!

Many congratulations go out to Wendy Spangenberger, the winner of the Dollhouse at our Miniature show May 6th.

During the meeting we discussed our ideas for next year's theme and came up with the theme of "Celebrations", a display using a greeting card for a background.  Members can choose whatever size and theme card they wish and build a display to represent that card.  An example of the idea is depicted here.  This card display was shown at the Philadelphia Miniature show this year and gave us the idea for our next year's theme. I can't wait to see what the members come up with!

Next meeting is June 18th after which there will be a break for July and August.
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Today, we had our 2018 Annual Miniatures show.  It was so much fun to see all of the items the vendors brought and to browse the tables.  So much talent displayed! I spoke with some of the Vendors and they commented on how much they enjoyed coming to our show.
Our members brought in miniatures they had made with this year's theme of "Seasons".  We also had a table for projects that members had done at various times.  Visitors were very thrilled to see examples of miniature bobbin lace and all of the creative miniatures that were displayed. A beautiful dollhouse was raffled off with proceeds to go to the Guelph Humane society.  
A table was set up to demonstrate the making of simple miniature books and guests were invited to make one to take home with them.
Liz West of "Taffy and Me" had a creative workshop about lighting that was well attended and enjoyed.
Overall, it looked as if everyone had a great time and I am looking forward to next year's show!  I will post some pictures of the show in the Show Gallery soon.
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Spring is around the corner and to celebrate we made little window boxes to fill with flowers.  We used some of the flowers we had made during our February meeting and Pot Luck.  Many of us only had time to make the boxes and paint them before taking them home to fill with the flowers.  Phyllis showed us a technique used to "paint" flowers using washable markers and a wet sponge.  The effect this creates is quite stunning.  I took my three boxes home and tried my hand at creating flowers and leaves.  I tried Phyllis' technique on some leaves I wanted in my box.  For the dirt we used brown modelling clay which is an excellent medium for holding the flower spikes in place.  Here is one of my boxes completed.
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We are now gearing up for the Mini show in May and putting the finishing touches on our "Seasons" displays.  May will be here before we know it and we look forward to seeing everyone at the show.  Check out the Annual Show page for details and a sneak peak at the vendors coming.
Our next meeting will be April 16th.

Good morning, my name is Yvette and today I am starting up the blog entries again and hope to continue to keep it up to date.  The OMEGA group continues to meet on the 3rd Monday of most months except July and August.  We continue to create fun items in miniature of varying scales.  A few new members have joined and we always welcome people who wish to learn more about minis. This past month, we were not able to meet at the church due to prior commitments of the church so one member kindly offered to have the meeting at her house.  We had a wonderful day of fun and laughter complete with a Pot Luck lunch.  We had a great time working on creating miniature plants along with admiring plants some members had made previously.  Here are a few pictures of the day:
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Our 32nd Annual Show was May 3. It was a great Show. We started set up at 7:00am and cleared out of the hall by 4:00. We had a good variety of vendors, it was too easy to spend my miniature allowance, the hard part was deciding what I really wanted and what I needed the most. The displays were awesome, our County Fair drew a lot of attention. our workshops went well and were interesting. The kids that attended had fun making treats. There was a toy making demonstration and how to make flowers. It was good to talk to fellow miniaturists I hadn't seen in a while. All in all it was a good day.