Christmas Crafts to Spruce Up Your Home – Shay’s Top 5 [VIDEOS]

Wreaths are fun, pretty and really easy to make. You can had as much or as little to them as you want, hang them on the wall, door or mantel and voila, you have yourself a nice decoration. I recently did one in fall colors for the Thanksgiving holiday and just this past weekend did a much larger Christmas wreath. You can do so much with this project from using pre-made items to starting completely from scratch. You can use fresh items, like leaves and flowers or use silk, ribbon, yarn...your imagination is the only limit here. The link below provides a lot of ideas and step-by-step instruction. The video is great, MayMay does a great job of showing you how to use the latest craze in wreath making; deco mesh.

Ornaments are something you can do alone or get the kids involved. You will not only have the memory of creating the ornament together but you also have a tangible item to keep for years to come. I still remember making Lifesaver ornaments and dough ornaments with my mom. Making the dough ornaments was a blast, my brother and I loved it. We would cut them out with cookie cutters, bake them and then get to paint them however we wanted. There are tons of options when it comes to making ornaments. You can get ideas from magazines, internet, friends, stores or just about anywhere else you look. The following video is a good starter video for making dough ornaments.

Centerpieces are the focus of your holiday table so you want it to 'pop' and be eye catching. I personally have a huge vase of silk Poinsettias with a smaller arrangement next to it as my centerpiece. I did the flower arrangement myself and my mom did the smaller one. She took a class at Mankin & Sons a year or so ago and learned how to make this. You can, of course, use flowers (real or silk), candles, fruit or just about anything else you can think of as a centerpiece. You just want it to stand out and make a statement.

I've only recently had a mantel to decorated. Growing up none of my family had a fireplace so I never really paid much attention to the decor. Now that I have one, I've had to search for some cool ideas. I've seen fun, classy, understated to elaborate. I think I like the clean, classy look best. Some garland, lights and candles are prettiest to me. It also depends on the shape, height, width and style of your mantel as to how much and what you can do with it. I now have a shallow mantel on top of the fireplace but also a deeper hearth as well. That means I have more area to decorate! I haven't quite figured out yet what I want to do with it, but I'm thinking a couple of potted Poinsettias (tying it in with my wreath) and some green garland wrapping the bottom and maybe some gold glitter enhanced pine cones. This video shows what I was talking about between the simple classic vs. more fun and color.

If you are into scrapbooking then you probably have made your own Christmas Cards too. My mom has been doing this recently, at Michael's Craft Store where they offer classes. She has done some really cute cards. Some are simple stamped and colored others are a bit more involved more of a 3-D effect; using cut-outs, pop-ups and other materials. These are fun and you can personalize them to fit the person you are sending them to. The only drawback to this is that it does take some special tools in some cases, it depends on how involved you want the card to be. Otherwise there are tons of ideas out there and again let your own creativity flow; the sky's the limit.This video shows some great examples of handmade Christmas Cards.