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Fun Way to Say Thank You

Big Red Barn Blog

My husband and I are expecting a baby in a few short weeks! We have been very fortunate to have a couple of baby showers and a diaper party. Needless to say we needed a way to say thank you for the generosity of our friends.

I love to bake so I thought it would be fun to say thank you with some baked goods. For my husband’s diaper party I put together these packs of cookies and tied a themed thank you note to each one. I made some chocolate chip, peanut butter and snickerdoodle cookies to have a variety. I threw them in a basket so they could double as a dessert. They went over really well and we even had a few leftovers to snack on later!

Now for a baby shower I had at work I made these chocolate chip cheesecake bars because they love them and always want me to make them! I also made some bigger packs with my homemade salsa and Starbucks for the ones who planned the shower. Our nursery theme is Where the Wild Things Are so I bought these printable themed labels to make them extra cute.

I am a big believer in showing appreciation when someone does something nice for you. Baking treats gives me a fun way to say thank you. I encourage you to find your unique way of saying thank you to those you care about!

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Fall Tablescape

Big Red Barn Blog

Fall is my favorite season of all! It may be the weather, Halloween, Thanksgiving or my birthday that make this season special but I look forward to it every year. I particularly love to decorate for this time of year. There is always a ton of different themes to choose from and endless supply at the stores. Here I will show you how I decorated my table this year.

I always start with a freshly cleaned table. I love looking at this table when it is clear of everything and the wood grain stands out. Once I’ve cleaned the table and had ample amount of time to look at it I head to my closet to pick out my table runner. I have a ton of table runners for every holiday. I place that on the table and then put the chargers at each seat. I have ten chairs at the moment but I always buy enough place settings for twelve in case we have a full house. Once I have placed the chargers I put a main course plate down then top it with a salad plate. I will put flatware out the day of the meal.

I look forward to picking out my salad plate for each season. This year I went with a combination of a fall truck scene and a perfect solid orange color. I feel like these plates bring the whole thing together!

Next I start to build the center of the table. I changed out the flowers from my summer table to some fall foliage. I then placed my Pioneer Woman cake stand on the runner to pull in some of the turquoise from the smaller pumpkins on the table and that is the color of the chairs as well. I have a variety of other pumpkins to fill out the table but this year I bought these galvanized pumpkins to add a farmhouse touch.

There you have it! Once you have a few key pieces it become easy to put it all together. I hope you all have as much fun getting ready for Fall as I do!

-Cristie

Decorating

Vintage Wrought Iron Porch Rockers

Big Red Barn Blog

We found these old wrought iron porch rockers a couple of weeks ago at a farm sale out in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma, for $20! As you can see, they were in pretty rough shape! The seats were very rotted out, and we actually fell through one while trying it out. But, the iron was still very solid and sturdy, and I knew there was plenty of life left!

Helping my husband, we cut new seats out of 3/4” plywood, using the old seats for a pattern. I bought new duck cloth at Joann fabric. If you wait until this time of year (fall), it’s pretty cheap (60 percent off). We also purchased a new roll of 2” thick project foam for the seats. The rolls are much cheaper than the precut seat cushions. We used a staple gun to fasten the cloth to the bottom of the seats. It’s really a two person job, so you need someone to help stretch the fabric uniformly. When cutting the foam, we used a table saw to make the cuts. We tried scissors, but found the table saw made much more even, uniform cuts.

I considered spray painting the metal, but decided to keep it the rusty blue. I love it!! My recovering, upholstery technique is not the best, but I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. I think they add a lot of character to my back porch!

I found the old wooden box holding the mums at a barn sale. It was full of old telephone insulators, which I plan to sell in my antique booth. I really like using old wooden boxes to hold plants and flowers. Just be cautious when watering! The big metal pumpkin was found at a tag sale. He does light up, and I really like him. Our son-in-law made the BIG wooden box out of an old refrigerator. It can hold drinks for a really large gathering. Right now we’re using it for storage on our porch.

Don’t be afraid to try your hand at updating, upgrading, repurposing items to make new rustic treasures! Everything doesn’t have to look or be perfect. It’s just fun to try something new!

Jackie

Decorating

Details, Details! Carnival Mardi Gras

Big Red Barn Blog

Just got off a one-week vacation on Carnival’s newest ship, the Carnival Mardi Gras. What a beauty! There were a LOT of bloggers and vloggers on board. They were everywhere reviewing the food, accommodations, entertainment, etc.

So, you might wonder what a country life blogger could possibly have to offer. (I kind of wondered that myself!). I found myself drawn to the details and touches throughout the ship. The floors, ceilings, lamps, fixtures, etc. were all fantastic! I hope you draw inspiration from these photos!

My absolute favorite thing was the ceiling in Guy’s Pig and Anchor. I LOVE rustic, metal, rusty ANYTHING. I really liked the way each square was an individual work of rusty art. As the ceiling ages, you will never notice any deterioration of the tiles.

The bars and cocktails were FABULOUS! I had two favorites – The Brass Magnolia and the Fortune Teller. The Brass Magnolia was reminiscent of old New Orleans. It was in the French Quarter section of the ship. I really like the way they used the brass instruments in their lamps. They played jazz most evenings and we really enjoyed it.

The Fortune Teller was my afternoon hangout. They had the BEST drinks and my favorite was the Crystal Ball! The video below shows how great the drink was.

They had big vintage-look posters and the tile work on the floor really added to the theme.

These columns were outside the chef’s kitchen and I really liked the unique checkerboard pattern. They were pretty small, about 3” x 3”. So, it was surely a lot of work!!

I’ll be sharing more from the Mardi Gras in the coming months. Hope you enjoyed this! I know I did!

Jackie