Front Porch Archives - The Pennington Point

Happiness is a Peaceful Weekend

by Lisa on April 29, 2013

It was a peaceful weekend, quiet and low key. We milled about doing this and that. No trips, no rushing around. Delightful!

On Saturday I gave a couple of haircuts on the front porch. For some reason, even though I cut the boys’ hair myself and own all of the cutting tools, I wait until they look like orphans in a third world country before I actually cut their hair. I will go weeks saying, “Boy, you need a HAIRCUT!” knowing that all I have to do is pull out the clippers and have it done in about 10 minutes. Pitiful.

After the haircuts were done Patience and I decided to use the nice light on the porch to take some new photos for our shop. My Mason Jar Straw Lids are our hottest seller these days, so we wanted to spice up their pictures. We set one of our tables on the porch with our pretty summer dishes and took about 7000 shots. This is Patience’s influence. I am a just-take-a-couple-of-pictures-and-be-done kind of girl, but she likes to keep going with gusto. My problem with taking so many is that I have to reject a bunch of good ones.

Just to show you, here’s one of the rejects….but I love it!

And the good ones…they are super yummy! I love this one with our new stainless steel straws.

Seriously, I could show you 6998 more! And we have several new listings in the shop and more to come. EEK!

Since the table was all set anyway, the 4 girls decided to eat dinner out there and had a lovely time. Although I couldn’t tell you why they aren’t actually drinking from the mason jars with lids. I wonder if they know they are allowed to actually USE them.

Yesterday was James’ birthday. The kids and I pampered him as much as we could. We did whatever he wanted, which meant spending the afternoon playing Wii Family Feud. It was girls against boys. The girls won. I’m just sayin’. Birthday or no birthday….no one lets anyone else win around here.

I had to look through my Instagram feed to remind myself of what happened over the weekend. It’s sad when I can’t remember what I did yesterday. Especially when I saw this picture from church of 2 of my kids singing for the Lord. Really Mom, this is something you should remember.

Sorry for the grainy picture. I was using my iphone and I was way in the back. Note to self: sit in the front the next time my kids sing.

I guess that’s not a completely uneventful weekend. A few interesting things happened.

How about you? Did you relax? Or go gusto?

There’s a Whole Lotta Craftiness Going on Around Here!

by Lisa on October 24, 2012

I haven’t been keeping y’all up to date on my craftiness lately. The 31 day series has been filled with parenting ideas, but there’s a lot more to me than motherhood. I wear many hats. I am a multi-faceted woman. James says complicated and confusing. Tomato-tomahto.

I’ve been doing some small, easy projects, putting them in my shop and sharing them on other sites. Then I realized that I’m not showing them to you, and you understand me best of all. That led me to feel sorry for you. Because if you can understand ME then there might be something sadly wrong with you and I think you need to see a doctor.

….ooops…..train of thought derailed…..back to the crafts….

Over at Mom It Forward I’m showing 7 ways to use brown lunch bags for fall. Here’s a quick peek….be prepared for excessive cuteness.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, I am also over at Life Your Way sharing 7 ways to say “welcome” with your decorating.

I never realized before that I like lists of 7 so much. Or maybe I just can’t think of more than that. I do tend to get distracted easily.

But that’s not all of the creativity around here. I’ve been cranking out some etsy orders and enjoying the process of making things for others. I just love thinking about my customers and praying for them while I work. I made a big batch of these on Monday and sent them off to a special bride:

And I’ve got a whole bunch of new products in the shop. These zippered pouches are so cute and they’d make great Christmas gift for friends, teachers, secret santas, church leaders, lots of folks!

I’ve got to show you just one more, then I’ll stop. But these mason jar lids that we’re making now are just so fun. I’m using them all of the time for the whole family.

Thanks for letting me spill about all of the craftiness that’s been happening around here. I hope you’ll pop over to Mom It Forward and Life Your Way to say hello!

Follow me on Facebook for a constant stream of what’s happening around here.

It’s Been a DIY Month Around Here!

by Lisa on June 22, 2012

There’s been a veritable DIY craze going on a my house for the past month. Now that it’s too hot to actually work, it gives me a chance to slow down and take a few photos of the projects.

One of my favorites has to be the front porch. Our front porch was looking pretty raggedy. The floor boards at the end were all rotten and had big holes in them. The paint on the floor was rubbed off from being pooped on by chickens then scrubbed. So if you think having chickens is some kind of dream fantasy, remember that they don’t use a toilet and they eat the cat food. Just sayin’.

Anyway, the porch was pitiful so we removed all of the furniture/toys and got the floor all clean. Then we replaced the rotting boards, which was not as hard as I expected and makes me wonder why it took us so long to do it.

I changed the color a little. I’m a change girl. If I’m going to paint something I’m going to change the color. It is my way.

So I went a little more gray. After I painted it the kids kept calling it baby blue which was making me mad because it was supposed to be gray. This would never do.

I thought maybe adding a rug would distract from the slight blue-ish tinge. I had some black paint leftover from the back door makeover, so I painted the shutters on the front porch and some trim on the front door. I love using leftover paint. It makes me feel so thrifty.

Then I used same the paint to make a rug in the center of the opening from the front. I like it….it adds charm. And it was free.

You can see how I did it over at Life Your Way. I’m sharing some of my home/DIY tips over there a couple of times a month.

Speaking of Home/DIY….I have something so exciting to show you. I’ve put all of our top home and DIY projects all into one place. There’s a new button in the “At the Point” sidebar or you can access it right here.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll pop over and check out my new Home/DIY gallery.

Flags for the Porch

by Lisa on May 30, 2012

Thanks for your interest in my flag screens on the front porch. I made them last summer and we’ll be hanging them back up in a few weeks. Happiness.

They were really easy to make.

I simply cut 1x2s the sizes I wanted and screwed them together on the ends. I painted the frames white then stapled screen to the back. You can see the staples when you are standing behind the screens on the porch, but it’s fine. I like the simplicity of it.

Actually, you can see straight through them from the back. You can’t really even tell they’ve got flags painted on them. The kids think that’s neat-o. It’s like a magic trick.

Once they were assembled I laid them on newspaper and painted the flags right onto the screen using painter’s tape for straight lines. It was simple measuring. I made a stencil for the Texas flag star out of cardstock. I used star shaped brads (from the scrapbook section in the craft store) for the stars on the American flag. The little brads fit through the screen just fine.

I think the whole project took me less than 2 hours. A couple of hooks screwed into the top and tied up with strips of burlap and they were done.

It’s a quick, easy, inexpensive way to dress up your porch for the summer.

You can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram and Twitter @PenningtonPoint

Linking to: Transformation Thursday

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The Pennington Work Crew Strikes Again

by Lisa on May 29, 2012

Oh my goodness y’all. That was the most exhausting weekend I have had since I can remember. We all, every single one of us, worked ourselves to near collapse. Well, maybe not the little boys. But even they worked hard. I was real proud.

Friday through Sunday we were outside working by 7:00 AM and we stayed out as long as we could considering the heat was pretty bad. When I tell you it was a sweat shop around here, I mean that literally. Quite a few of us stayed out all day past sunset. There was a lot of work to be done.

James and his crew worked on tearing apart our horrible little pump house in the backyard.

They refaced it and I mean to tell you…I can not WAIT to show you the finished product. They still have to finish the doors, but then I will unveil what may possibly be our best junk/free project yet.

The younger boys worked on tearing out rocks and dirt from a mess of a patio we have on the back of the house. Noah and I repainted the front porch floor.

Gee that sounds so simple. “Repaint the porch floor.” It was a huge job. There were rotten boards to be replaced and old paint to sand off and the whole thing was so filthy that we thought we’d never get it clean. But we did it and it look a-mazing. Again…the after shots will have to wait because I was too tired to unload pictures from my camera. These are all from my phone.

You know me. I couldn’t just paint the floor. I had to add all kinds of details and extras and we’re not quite finished. I’ll show you this week. Let me rest my sore muscles for a minute first.

You can be sure Sonic had a good weekend since we picked up drinks or Blasts every time we made a run to the hardware store. It kept me going.

But it wasn’t all work and no play. Some friends came over at 4:00 last night and we had a blast just sitting around shooting the bull. That’s what we do in Texas. It’s fun!

This morning I’m off to the orthodontist and several other, non sweat related errands. I’m just glad to be standing upright instead of bending over with a paintbrush all day.

But I’ll probably still stop at Sonic. After all of the support they offered me throughout the long, hard weekend it seems I owe them a debt of gratitude.

What did you do last weekend?

A Wonderful Memorial Day!

by Lisa on May 28, 2012

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you all have a wonderful day today. We will be sharing the afternoon with friends. I’m going to make our favorite pretzel dogs and our friend is bringing his famous homemade salsa which, even if I didn’t like him I would invite him just for this stuff. It is to.die.for.

If I can convince him to let me I will share the recipe with you. I have tried making it, but it never turns out like his. Of course, I’m not the best example since I tend to mess up cereal.

I’m sure the kids will do a little swimming while the adults lounge.

Then as the sun goes down’ we’ll eat some more and sit out on the front porch enjoying each other’s company.

May you have a blessed Memorial Day!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter @PenningtonPoint or Instagram @Pennington9

Porch in the Fall

by Lisa on October 10, 2011

Our front porch is so long and narrow that it is sometimes hard to decorate. I can’t just stick a wreath on the door and call it finished. Or maybe I should stop blaming my huge porch and start looking at the real problem….James doesn’t let me buy everything I want.

This year I am going simple with a couple of hay bales and some pumpkins.

It’s cozy and fall-ish without taking too much of my time. It was either the living room wall project or the porch. I can’t do it all y’all.

I love this sittin’ spot. I get my drink and my book and I let the little boys play on the porch while I rock ‘n read.

I wish you could join me.

Not So Simple Housewife

Free Christmas Decor, Part 2

by Lisa on December 11, 2010

For years I’ve looked for a large decoration to put on the front porch. I’ve searched craft shows, supercenters, malls…..nothing.

I decided to use my free decorating challenge to make something myself.

So while we worked on the bathroom I kept my eye out for something I could use. I ended up using more pieces of the pallet we tore apart.

I told Jacob what I wanted to do with it and he cut it and screwed it together for me. Yes, Virginia, teenagers are a delight, despite what the world says.

Grace and Faith offered to paint it for me since the rest of use were busy painting inside the house.

And here it is…..

We wrapped fake gifts and put them under our old Christmas tree. The poinsettias are fake. No cost decorating. Oh yeah! I’m doing the happy dance!

Of course I had to use my Cricut!

It is so cheerful on that side of the porch that we decided to carry the candy cane theme to the front door.

Good thing I had a bunch of red ribbon left from Christmases past.

Faith made this little sign with scrapbook papers.

Oh dear, I can see that I have a confession I need to make. I did buy some candy canes. I got them for a school thing, but I did spend a dollar on them. Not totally free, but close enough for me.

I am so excited about my free candy cane fence. I’ve got all kinds of ideas now….an Easter fence? A fall fence? Valentine’s Day?! Now I’m getting excited!

Linking to Perfectly Imperfect

Hay Bales and Black Pumpkins

by Lisa on September 28, 2010

I know I showed you my front porch already. But that was LAST YEAR’s porch. I finally got it done for this year, so of course I have to show that as well. I love each porch equally and would not want one to be jealous because they weren’t getting the attention they deserved.

If you walked up to our house this is what you would see….

Don’t ya wanna just sit and rock?

Call me crazy, but I just had to paint one of the pumpkins black.

So cute, right?

“A black pumpkin?!” you say? With words and polka dots. Oh yeah! I’m jammin’ the pumpkins this year!

It turned out so darling….I have thought about painting a few more. But every time I mention it my family looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

My dad reads my blog and I know he won’t understand the painted pumpkin. I can just hear him, “If God meant for pumpkins to be black with polka dots….” It’s a flashback to fifth grade when I begged to get my ears pierced. “If God had meant for you to have pierced ears then you would have been born with holes in your ears.” (said in a very authoritative voice that will ground you for life if you argue with him…..which I didn’t do or my children might never have been born because I would still be in my room listening to Elton John on a record player).

I’m pretty sure God wanted this pumpkin to be black with dots. It wouldn’t look so darn adorable if He hadn’t planned it.

I love this spot on the porch. I could sit here for hours with my Kindle and a Diet Dr Pepper.

Bales of hay are so perfect for fall. And for us they are useful….the animals will eat them when I am finished using them for decorations. Don’t say it Dad. God really does want me to use these hay bales for decorations.

I just know it.

Linking to:

As Good as Color TV

by Lisa on April 4, 2010

Whoa! New flower pots are so expensive. I have pennies to spare these days. So I got some terra cotta pots and hoped I could jazz then up with stuff I had at home.

BLINK! (that’s my “I Dream of Jeannie” imitation)

I wish I could have twitched my nose (“Bewitched”) and fixed this…..

It adds a pop of color to the front porch. I need more though (especially since one broke….waaah!)

I am so glad it’s finally time to put out flowers. I’m so desperate for color, I was about to paint wild patterns all over the side of our 15 passenger van (“Partridge Family”).

Ahhhh…..now I feel better.

This plant sits at the top of the porch steps. Don’t worry, there’s no pet dragon under these stairs (name that 60′s TV show).

I know that there have been a ton of other blogs about painting terra cotta pots. But who else will keep you entertained with weird, vintage TV?

Only me……

♫ And you knew where you were then! Girls were girls and men were men. Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again….. ♪

I’m linking to Cottage Dreamers for fun!

Head over to Metamorphasis Monday for more great ideas!