A Look at the White House China Collections

I've been reading a lot of books about the White House recently. I've always been an avid reader, and before the pandemic I went to the library at least twice a month to load up on a stack of books. When the library closed, I switched to using the library's eBook service, which recommended J.B.West's Upstairs at the White House after I indicated that I'm a fan of memoirs. (Affiliate link here and throughout the post). When I finished West's book and rated it highly, Hoopla recommended more behind-the-scenes at the White House books. I've now read and enjoyed Alonzo Fields' My 21 Years in the White House, Henrietta Nesbitt's White House Diary, as well as Kate Andersen Brower's The Residence. I also read one book that I particularly enjoyed despite it being intended for kids: Joe Rhatigan's White House Kids. 

One of my favorite things about reading digital books is that I can quickly and easily look something up as I'm reading. Of course, "quickly" looking up one fact often turns into an hours-long descent into a fascinating topic. Thus, I ended up spending a lot of time researching the White House china collections. Among other things, I learned the Trumps did not design a signature china collection, a tradition followed by almost every previous president. If you are interested in learning about the White House china, this timeline is very interesting, and I recommend giving it a look. 

While I can say with near 100% certainty that I will never be asked to design a set of presidential china, it's still fun to think about what the deRosier pattern would be. Simple, clean, and elegant, for sure. Pure white, not ivory. Perfectly round, not scalloped. Beyond that, I'm not sure. 

I couldn't find images of all the presidential china collections in the public domain, but I did find one for my very favorite set, the GW Bush collection. It's elegant and interesting without being too busy. 

There is a better photograph of it, and of many of the other presidential china collections, in this Architectural Digest article. My second favorite, the Reagan setting, shares a similar interesting diamond pattern around the edge. Clearly, the deRosier setting should be inspired by this element!

There are plenty of other sets I like, particularly those of Wilson and Truman. However, having not been in the White House to see how the china looks with the architecture and furnishings, there might be others I love more for the specific location. What are your favorites? Tell me in the comments!

S'mores Campfire Treat Centerpiece

Out of the 2600+ blog posts I've written, my one about the World's Best Classroom Birthday Treat remains my most popular of all time. Today's project uses the same "recipe" to fill this cute campfire treat centerpiece. Affiliate links below. 

 

S'mores Campfire Treat Centerpiece

Materials:

• acrylic display case
• cardstock (yellow and brown)
• microtip scissors
• color pencils
• craft glue
• tape runner
• cotton ball
• s'mores trail mix

Steps: 

Cut 7 teardrop shapes of various sizes from the yellow cardstock to make the flames of the campfire. Shade the edges with orange color pencil. 

Cut 5 cylinders from brown cardstock. Use a dark brown color pencil to draw concentric circles on the ends to mimic the cut ends of logs. Draw knots and bark lines randomly along the length of the cylinders. Switch to a brownish-red pencil and draw more bark lines, then again with light brown. 

Glue the logs together with craft glue, then add flames behind them. Use the tape runner to apply adhesive to the bottom of the display case, then press the campfire against it. 

Add spots of adhesive to the top of the display case. Pull bits of cotton from a cotton ball, separating them until they are whispy. Stick the cotton to the adhesive to mimic the look of smoke. Continue until the top is mostly covered. In this picture, you can see that I've covered the top already and have a large pile of cotton left over. All of that is from a single cotton ball. 

Prepare the s'mores trail mix. 

Fill the display case with trail mix. Sprinkle additional trail mix on the clean tables around the display cases so that hungry guests don't destroy your centerpieces.  

This would be a really fun activity for a Cub Scout Blue & Gold or other Scouting event, as well as for a camping-themed birthday party.

Summer of Rock

There are some benefits to staying home for a year (and counting!). All that time we'd ordinarily have been traveling, seeing friends and family, and otherwise leaving the house could instead be put into doing things around the house. One of those was making improvements to our front yard. 

Summer of Rock (affiliate link)

The whole thing was our neighbor Curt's idea. He wanted us to replace the grass strips by the sidewalk with rock. Then he decided we should replace the lawn, fix the patio, and add rock and mulch. Curt made all the plans and we helped him execute them. It was a lot of work, but well worth it.

Huge thanks to Curt. Good neighbors are the best.

Paper Plate Easter Basket

Check out my Easter basket! I made it from a paper plate and filled it with construction paper eggs cut from scraps. 

Paper Plate Easter Basket

 

Materials:

• paper plate
• scissors
• craft glue
• binder clips
• legal-size paper
• stapler
• Easter grass
• construction paper

Steps:

Cut 12 slits into the paper plate, approximately the same distance apart, stopping where the ridged part ends. (I cut like the numbers on a clock - top and bottom, left and right, then two cuts between each cut.) Bend the cut pieces upward.

Add a dot of glue to the inside right of each flap. Starting with one flap, tuck it behind the flap immediately to the right so that the right (gluey) side is behind the left (non-glued) side. Then tuck that flap behind the next one on the right, continuing until it forms a basket shape. It you use strong glue, it will hold pretty well on its own, but I recommend putting a few binder clips in place to hold it if any start slipping.  

If you look carefully, I should have added one more binder clip, as there's a loose flap in the 9:00 position. I noticed it later, added more glue, and clipped it.

While the glue is drying, cut out eggs from construction paper and decorate them with the scraps from other colors of eggs. 

Fold the legal-size paper in half lengthwise, then in half again and again until you have a long, narrow strip. Glue the ends to the inside of the basket, then staple them in place for extra security. 

Fill your basket with Easter grass, then tuck in your eggs. This basket is surprisingly sturdy and would work well with plastic eggs or real eggs, too. 

I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Easter Egg Sun Catcher

I love sun catchers. Part of what I like about them is how different they look as the daylight shifts. They also have a completely different look hanging on a window versus a wall, which you can see here:

But what I like most about them is that they're easy to make and always pretty. Affiliate links below. 

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Easter Egg Sun Catcher

Materials:

• contact paper
• black Sharpie
• tissue paper
• sequins
• scissors
• retractable craft pick
• embroidery floss

Steps:

Cut two pieces of contact paper that are slightly larger than you want your finished sun catcher to be. Make a pattern for your egg, then use a Sharpie to trace the pattern onto the paper liner of one of the pieces of contact paper. Do not draw on the contact paper itself!

Cut narrow strips of tissue paper.

Place the piece of contact paper with the pattern drawn on it on your work surface. Peel the liner off the other piece of contact paper only, and place it sticky side up on the other piece. Now add strips of tissue paper and rows of sequins to the sticky surface. The tissue paper should extend beyond the edges of the pattern, while the sequins need to stay inside the lines. 

Slide the lower piece of contact paper out from under the one you've been working on. Remove the paper liner and set it aside. Press that piece of contact paper on top of the first, sticky sides together, sandwiching the tissue paper and sequins inside. 

Place paper liner with the pattern underneath the sun catcher, adjusting it so that it is lined up properly. Use paper clips to hold it in place if necessary, then cut along the line.  

Poke a hole in the top of your sun catcher with the craft pick, then insert a length of embroidery floss. Tie a knot to make the hanger. Then hang it on a wall...

... or in a window!

If you do hang it in a window, be sure to check back at different times of day to see how the light changes.