DIY Christmas Decorations ~ Simple Christmas Decor 2021 ~ Neutral Christmas Decorations 

You could put the icing in an icing bag or make one out of baking paper, or even a zip lock bag, cut the corner off, then squirt it into the bottle, quicker and less mess. It’s not runny enough for a funnel. Little houses were cute.

I don’t live far from Walnut Creek and I visited the antique mall yesterday. I was so happy to see the trees made from the old fencing! My husband bought a set for me and I love them! Thank you for sharing your talents with us.

Loved all of these! Thank you for the salt dough recipe. I can't wait to use it to make ornaments with my son😊 A little tip for hand-building anything with clay: try using the "score and slip" method when you are joining pieces together. I learned this really important step in my Ceramics courses in college. It is crucial to use this method when building with clay, whether you're using slabs (rolled out flat pieces), coils, adding pieces to thrown pottery, etc. It's how you join pieces of clay together. It prevents your creations from falling apart when air-drying, and especially when you will be baking them. •To SCORE, all you have to do is use some sort of tool (an awl or even a fork, something pointy) to create a cross hatching pattern on the edges or sides that you will be joining together. Score all across both surfaces that will be joined! You dont have to dig deep, just lightly enough to scratch the surface (you are just texturizing the surfaces in order for better adhesion; not too deep, but deep enough to make visible lines/divots into the clay). •SLIP is basically like a "glue" for clay. It is just clay with water added to it so that it becomes like the consistency of pancake batter, quite thin. And to use slip, you just dip a brush into it and apply it to the scored clay surfaces right before joining them together. You can also use the slip to smooth the edges/sides/corners of your piece with a tool or your fingers. We often used scrap pieces of clay to make slip; just thrown into a small airtight bucket with water, mixed very well, so that it was always on hand. The Score & Slip Method works best on clay that has air-dried to almost a leathery type of consistency, though you can use it at any stage before completely drying. It only works on clay that is still moist, however. You won't be able to properly join completely dry pieces with slip. This is the best way to join pieces when hand-buiding with clay- it makes your piece very sturdy, which is extremely important during the drying process when clay is at its most fragile state and is shrinking (most clays shrink a bit when they dry). Also, most clays don't hold up well if they are dried too quickly because of the shrinking process. I hope this helps! I love working with clay💚 Also, the yarn tree garland that you made is so cute! Thank you so much for sharing all of these lovely Christmas decoration ideas!!!

Mary, I love spending time watching your videos ! They’re not only inspirational, they’re peaceful and calming! Enjoyed the ladybug visit!

Wonder woman never ceases to amaze! All of these turned out so good! Enjoyed this video so much!

I wish I could be as peaceful as you come across! You never appear rushed, stressed, or anxious!

You’re the only person on the internet who would honestly show your resulted “fail” to help the rest of us get a good result in future-I love your humble heart ♥️

It just makes me realize how beautiful “simple” is. I love it all! Bless you and your family. 🙏🏻❤️

The highest form of wisdom is to be simple and live in the beauty of love. Thank you once again Mary.

Love the little lady bug zipping around. Gave me a giggle. You could also use the salt dough to make the gingerbread house and the tea light house. You would just need to make flat pieces and then hot glue them together once they are dry. The wood block inside the air dry clay would need to be removed at some point before the tea light house is totally dry even if you did not put it in the oven as air dry clay shrinks as it dries. Maybe if you wrapped the wood block in plastic wrap before you put the clay around it, let it dry for a little bit to set up and then remove the block. Hopefully with the plastic wrap it would be easier to remove the block. If you had a screw in the block or something to hold on to, it would be easier to remove also. Love your channel and that you show the fails as well as the ones that turn out. Merry Christmas and Happy Creating!

Какая чудесная трудяжка! С наступающими праздниками! Прекрасного, светлого будущего и настоящего Вам и всем Вашим друзьям!

The way you casually mentioned having been Amish was stunning. I love you even more now and am deeply intrigued about your lifestory!

I live in Durban South Africa and I absolutely love all your inspiring Christmas ideas. You have made me think about all that I am about to do in our home this year.🎄

Thank you for sharing these ideas and even for including your “fail”. Sometimes how well one handles the fails is way more reassuring than the successes! ✨🎄✨

Ah ,lady bugs are beautiful , never distracting !!!!!🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞

I love the wooden trees and ornaments made from your old fence! What a great story. And now you able to bring that memory indoors for your family to enjoy. How sweet! 🥰🌞

I LOVE the gingerbread house and you've made me search for that clay too! Fab, always full of inspiration!

Oh Mary. I love, love the dough trees. The cork for the trunk is so perfect!! Going to have to make these along with more of the ornaments.

So cool! The yarn trees are my favourite.❤️ And wow, your piping skills!!!

Your patience with making all those clay item is amazing. I love all these decorations!!

Mary, love all of these ideas, I’ve always loved neutral Christmas decorations, and things I could make myself. The tree tassel garland is really gorgeous! Thank you so much Mary, have a beautiful day ♥️🙏🏻

my grandson and I make gingerbread houses every year...we always use a box. no gingerbread. we decorate them with pretzel Stix, cereals, candies...after Christmas we put them out on the picnic table for the birds n squirrels.

Every single project is beautiful! Loved each one of your creations. Thank you for sharing.

I ADORE the natural wood tone of the ornaments & trees!!! 🥰❤️❤️❤️

Mary thank you so much for sharing your creativeness with us! I am sorry your air dry house didn’t work out but I could not help but laugh when you showed the picture of it when it cracked!❤️. We have all been there and some us (me) have had many epic failures but we all learn something right? Love your ideas! Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas!🎄✝️

You are a genius. I would have never thought to makes a cardboard gingerbread house with real icing I can’t wait to make all these amazing crafts

I'm amazed at how even the scallops on your "gingerbread" roof turned out. I wouldn't be able to do it with no one watching, much less with a camera focused on me! Love all your ideas!

What a great idea to put white latex paint in the dough to make them very white.

Brilliant idea to add white paint to the salt dough because they normally turn out more of grey/cream colour

These all look so beautiful, Mary. I love the natural look for christmas. It makes me think of victorian days. Not the wealthy families, but the families making ends meet and trying to bring cheer to the holidays with what they have available around them. Adore it. 🌲❤

The tassel tree garland has my heart!!💚🎄💚

I love yarn trees. The flour ornaments,we made when my children were growing up, 50 years ago 🥰

Absolutely love all these! I love that you left the footage of the church house “experiment”. Thank You for always sharing memories of your family on that beautiful property.

Mary, I think you are amazing! Every time I watch one of your videos, which I’ve now seen so many, I always say to myself “what can’t she do?“ I think that if you sold most of what you made, I would buy a great deal of it. The sign with the houses you painted is absolutely beautiful. I would buy that in a minute. I did buy two pillow covers from you before Christmas and everybody commented on them - and so well made. Again, I think you are a visionary, and a very talented woman. I’m so glad I found your channel.

Ha. At first I thought I had a bug on my screen!!! Cute ornaments

I especially like the faux gingerbread house! Makes a difference to have your steady hand too!

Love all of these projects ..can’t pick a favorite. They all have that “Mary” touch which makes them so charming! Thank you for sharing them.

My favorite part was the second project... The yarn trees, with the dancing ladybug in the background. ❤💚

Oh Mary loved your simple decorations The silver green color for the trees was perfect. Merry Christmas to you and your family this season.

Wow is amazing I bee watching you Chanel for over one year you inspire me so mucho ... In this time the new normal you videos id the only thing keeping me company i lost my house my 3 different jobs my truck and my family i was homeless workless careless for 12 weeks i slow getting up i been in one little tiny room i called my white cotash like yours and i dream one day be like you . You inspired everyday to get and be better really appreciate it what you do god bless and your family.gracias i am living in San Jose CA.

How beautiful is that gingerbread house, styled with the little trees. Just lovely.

Simply magical.

Little trees are precious

Mary, these are all so peaceful and so restful for the eye and spirit. Thank-you for sharing your creativity with us!

Mary, you are such an inspiration! Thank you for sharing your ideas with us! 🙏🏻♥️

Love all these ideas! AND I'll say it once again, love how you refinished your kitchen countertops, looks so nice in your video as you are creating! I think I have to revisit your video on it.

Pretty trees in corks! So simple, so precious.

Happy Birthday to your beautiful Mother… your bond is so precious. Love the tree.

I’m so depressed lately. I’m getting older and it’s not easy for me to do things around the house. I used to go all-out decorating like you but no more. I feel I forced myself to put up my 7ft tree but now I have no desire to decorate it. It wore me out! I guess this is my last time doing it, which is sad. Thank you for posting all of the beautiful things you made and God bless.

Lady Bugs are good luck. That Christmas Tree yarn tassel is adorable.

I love the simplicity of your demonstrations and have enjoyed going back over the past few years to see your videos. Even your failures are fun to watch and an opportunity to learn from mistakes. Thank you.

The little white trees are so clever, so cute, so peaceful. My favorite is the tassel trees garland. That is just the cutest thing ever!!

What a great idea to use the corks for tree trunks! I am now planning on a small salt dough forest! Thanks for all the great ideas, Mary.

Haha I love the ladybug friend going in and out of the frame. 😄 Everything is very pretty, as usual. I especially love those tassel trees! ❤️

You are a delightful lady to watch. Your ideas are simply beautiful. 🎄 Thank u for the great ideas and videos 🐞

I have made many gingerbread buildings throughout the years...but this cardboard house was just as easy & darling! Loved the green yarn trees, too!!!!!!

Love the tassle trees and your gingerbread house with the door open. So cute.

I especially love the yarn tree garland! Thanks for all the great ideas!

I love the shorty of the wooden ornaments at the end. It makes them even more special! ❤️💚

I just love the simplicity of your ideas, simply wonderful.

I love the use of cork for your decorations.

Love all the natural wood items. That is a staple in my house for the holidays!!

Thank you so much! I am going to try the flour and salt one.

Mary, this brought happy memories of Christmas past.

Really like them all especially the houses. Just something about a little village .

You could build a whole house with your two little crafty, efficient hands. I love everything you do. You are such an inspiration. Merry Christmas.

These Christmas crafts are amazing.

Thank you, lots of fun to watch!

I loved the salt ornament trees but then seeing the tassel garland, it turned out out soooo adorable and is def my favorite this video. I use to make so many crafts when I was first married and now I just don’t take the time to do it anymore. Thanks for all the adorable ideas!! The cardboard gingerbread house was pretty darn cute too!! I love al your ideas!!!

Yes yarn trees are so cute

All cute items. I used air dry Clayton make stems for my DIY pumpkins. They were very fancy and easy.

I really love the tree/yarn Garland and the gingerbread house.

Love the little white trees in the cork. Blessings.

The lady bug was great! Invite her back!

Love it all but Especially the garland with the yarn trees! So ingenious!

You warm my heart everytime I see you. Love your calm peaceful demeanor and lovely ideas. Blessings to you Mary and your family!!! ❤

I love your Christmas tree bunting. Who knew you could make trees by simply making three different sizes of tassels? And the salt dough trees in corks is so clever!!!

Loved the gingerbread house.

Good morning, Mary! Have a blessed day! I love it when you do little diys or trash to treasure videos! 🌲🌲🌲 Thank you!

LOVE,LOVE EVERYTHING! OUTSTANDING!

I loved this. I like that you show when things don’t turn out as planned. That is life. You make so many wonderful things from nothing and it looks so rustic and homey. Thank you so much.

love all your videos, Miss Mary... thank you so much for taking the time to make them. I have learned so much from you.🌲🐞

Mary, loved the little tree garland. So cute. And the idea of the dough houses. I'll have to try them and let them air dry. You come up with such good idea. I look at something, thinking I can craft something from it and my mind goes blank. Love your videos and furniture makeovers. Wednesdays don't come fast enough to view your projects.

The yarn tree garland was really cute.

Such lovely ideas, Mary. Thank you for sharing them with us. I remember when you made the ornaments out of the old fence--so creative!

Mary, thank you for sharing your creative ideas. They never cease to surprise me. I love them. Don't ever stop. thanks

Love the gingerbread houses and thinking I'll try them using white puffy paint.

The ladybug is charming!

I love it all especially the lady bug

Mary, these are beautiful! You always brighten my day!! Absolutely LOVE the tassle-tree garland and think I will give that a try myself. Merry Christmas and many blessings.

Thanks Mary for the wonderful Christmas ideas. My favorite was the little trees made out of yarn. 💕💕💕💕

SOOOOO awesome , Mary!!! Love them all! I’m so thankful I found your channel!

Mary, you are AMAZING!!! Creativity just exudes through you!! Truly blessed and I am so touched and blessed to get to watch you! Merry Christmas to you and you entire family!!!!!

Love the gingerbread house!

I want to make those dough ornaments! Such a cute idea to use the corks for trunks!

So creative. Love them all. I will be trying the yarn trees for sure and I think I’ll use them to include with the gift tag on my Christmas gifts.

Loved these! I actually got an idea while you were using the air-dry clay! Hope it'll work. Thank you for your inspiration!

Hey Mary! Lovely Christmas ornaments you made. I go to a ceramics course and our teacher has mentioned that you can not leave anything inside the clay because when the clay dries it shrinks. Therefore, your house cracked when the clay shrank but not the wooden block you had inside. We usually dry what we do with a hair dryer so that it becomes a little more stable that we can remove the support before drying. Thank you for all the inspiration and a wonderful Christmas to you.

Love, Love, Love! Thank you for the wonderful ideas!

Great video Mam! I have an Amish oak fireplace my Dad bought me years ago and it is still going strong. I have never got into using flour to make un-ediable things because of people starving and in other countries. My mom even hated it when in the 60s the art classes for us kids had us make Christmas ornaments out of noodles and spray them gold such as for angel wings. I do love your cardboard house. Where I work we get in all sorts of diff cardboard and I am always taking home the corrugated cardboard and the guys laugh. I am the only female where I work. We get in long shallow boxes and they are very sturdy. I bring them home and add nice black felt fabric to the floor of the box and make jewerly trays for my jewerly I make and sell. At the end of each rack and pinion box are thick cardboard inserts and I bring them home. They are 8X8 and I wrap nice fabric around them right and add a loop to hang and make my own fabric wall art. I love your wooden trees and your tree round(s). I felt bad I forgot to ask the man last year that cut t hff e end of the tree off if I may have it. I would have loved it to put a photo of my mom and I on it wit the date. My mom passed away in July. We had the best Christmas together just her and I and while opening our presents it started to snow. I am in her house all alone now and will be alone for Christmas for the first time ever in my life. I told her this summer my theme for the mantle this years is Trees. She loved the idea. I walked to a new house being built the other day and collected triangles of wood to make into trees. I have the bullet tail light from a 59 Cadillac which is red to resemble one tree. I am making trees out of toilet paper rolls. I will display my mom's violin at one end of the mantle too as I put that up every year. Your house looks beautiful! It looks like a nice old cherished farm house. I look forward to future videos. This was my first, it will not be my last and I have subscribed. Sincerely, Rebekah in Virginia