Author: Bethany Adams

Transplanted to the south and loving every minute. Married to her best friend and mom to three fun little humans, she has a penchant for growing things (plants, kids, probably some mildew in the bathroom…), making things, good sci-fi and learning ways to improve on her job as a domestic engineer. She can usually be found homeschooling, playing in the garden, kicking around thrift stores and procrastinating painting that trim.

10 DIY Classy Paper Valentine’s Day Decorations

Posted on by Bethany Adams
10 DIY Classy Paper Valentine's Decorations
Images from: TheHouseThatLarsBuilt.com, JustSimpleDesigns.wordpress.com, HGTV.com, ThePerfectDIY.com, Blog.vickybarone.com, and CreativelyChristy.blogspot.com

This year, I’m trying to plan ahead a little more than in the past (read: throwing something together the night before…or day after) to make the holidays special for the whole family. I have fond memories of waking up on Valentine’s Day morning to a cute breakfast table set with decorations, a little treat for us at each table setting and pink biscuits baking in the oven. My Mom took the time to plan ahead to make even us kids feel special on Valentine’s Day. As part of my planning ahead, I’ve decided to put together some simple and cheap decorations for the month of February so of course, to Pinterest I went. So many cute ideas! I went ahead and ordered some pink, white and red construction paper via Amazon to save myself a trip to the store. Here are 10 of my favorite classy paper Valentine’s decorations.

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Photo from HGTV.com
  1. Sewn Heart Garland – How adorable is this? Sewing through paper is really easy and I love the airy look having these hang with thread provides.

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    Photo from Blog.VickyBarone.com
  2. Valentine’s Day Bunting/Garland – This one would require a trip to the craft store, but you could probably achieve the same idea with some glue instead of these cute little clothespins…you know, if you must.

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    Photo from TheHouseThatLarsBuilt.com
  3. Valentine’s Day Tree – It’s no secret that I have a penchant for bringing branches inside and decorating with all things tree related, so of course I kind of swooned over this perfectly executed Valentine’s Day tree.

    diy-paper-heart-chandelier-valentines-day-decor-01
    Picture from InspiredToShare.com
  4. Paper Heart Chandelier – Forget using this just as a Valentine’s Day decoration, I’m thinking this would be pretty adorable in my girls’ room above the crib.

    Framed hearts 2
    Picture from CreativelyChristy.blogspot.com
  5. Framed Hearts – This little piece of DIY artwork would make a nice gift. Those perfectly lined up teeny hearts are so sweet!

    wall-of-paper-hearts
    Photo from HowAboutOrange.blogspot.nl
  6. Wall of Paper Hearts – Have an empty wall? This would dress it up nicely…this also would be a fun surprise in an office. Cue college prank memories…

    Paper Heart Chain
    Photo from sStrumpetsCrumpets.blogspot.be
  7. Paper Heart Chain – I’m thinking I’ll make a curtain of these for at least one of our doorways to surprise the kids on Valentine’s Day Morning.

    Paper-Hearts.Mantel
    Photo from HoosierHomemade.com
  8. Paper Strip Hearts – Even fancier paper hearts!

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    Photo from JustSimpleDesigns.wordpress.com
  9. Coffee Filter Roses  – This post is full of ALL KINDS of gorgeous coffee filter flowers. I really hope I have time to give these a try!

  10. how-to-diy-folded-heart-garland1
    Photo from ThePerfectdiy.com
  11. Folded Heart Garland – Such a lovely way to do a heart garland! I think this is the one we’ll make for our mantel.

So there you have it! I’m so excited to give some of these a try and hopefully include the kids on a few. What do you like to do to make Valentine’s Day special for your family?

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Maple Walnut Apple Crisp

Posted on by Bethany Adams

Title picture Web Optimized

It just wouldn’t feel like Fall – or Thanksgiving – without something with baked apples, now would it? Sometimes though, the thought of taking the time to make a pie from scratch is a little daunting because, you know, time. This afternoon, I didn’t have a lot of time and I didn’t want a lot to clean up so I turned to one of my favorites, apple crisp. This particular apple crisp (Maple Walnut Apple Crisp, respectively), is sweetened only with maple syrup, another one of my favorite flavors that just sings “autumn.” One of the things I love about this recipe is that it’s not overly sweet. If you like things on the extreme sweet side, you can add some brown sugar – but this way it really allows the flavor of the apples, maple syrup and walnuts shine!

Gather your ingredients – apples, butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, cloves, walnuts, flour, salt and oats.

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Start with five apples. I had Gala apples today, but my favorite baking apple is the classic Granny Smith, of course.

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Peel and slice thinly, then take 1/4 cup of maple syrup and three tablespoons of butter and nuke it in the microwave til the butter is melted.

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Mix in 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.

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Toss over the apples to coat.

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Pour into a baking dish, pie pan, tart dish (that’s what these are called, right?) or whatever you’d like. No need to grease since you have butter on the apples.

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Now the crumble topping! Mix 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup oats, heaping 1/2 cup walnuts, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

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Melt 1/2 cup of butter into another 1/3 cup of maple syrup and mix. Oh yum.

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Crumble / spread over your apples and pop it in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes.

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Enjoy when warm with a dollop of whipped cream and drizzle of maple syrup. And some of that extra juicy syrup at the bottom. Yes, please.

finished crisp

Apple Walnut Apple Crisp Southern Mothers

I know what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow.

 

Maple Walnut Apple Crisp 

5 apples, peeled and sliced

3 TBS butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 tsp cinnamon

For the Topping:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup (heaping) chopped walnuts

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup melted butter

1/3 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350. Peel and slice apples and toss in melted butter, syrup and cinnamon. Pour into baking dish. Mix all dry topping ingredients. Melt butter into syrup in microwave and mix with the dry ingredients til wet and crumbly.  Spread/crumble topping over apples. Bake for approximately 35 minutes until apples are tender and topping is nice and crisp. Serve warm, with whipped cream and additional syrup.

Enjoy!

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