Decorating for the holidays doesn't have to be stressful or difficult to be beautiful. Here, we offer simple yet elegant ideas that you can use to decorate your home for Christmas.

With just two wreaths and some satin ribbon, you can make this spectacular decoration in a few easy steps.

Wintry branches are beautiful on their own and easy to arrange in a large vase or vessel, but they are even more festive when you decorate them with cards you receive from friends and loved ones.

Let the garden inspire your holiday decorating: Display ornaments under a garden cloche -- a bell-shaped glass cover that functions as a miniature greenhouse for outdoor plants (you can buy them at garden-supply stores). Filled with sparkly trimmings, each one will add radiance to any tabletop. 

To fill, turn a cloche upside down and balance it inside a teacup. Place ornaments, then invert a plate over the open end. Carefully turn cloche and plate right side up, and display.

Sometimes called the kissing ball, mistletoe not only decorates your home for the holidays, it also encourages guests to show a little love.

When you're chopping firewood, set aside branches that are too thin for logs and too thick for kindling. Use them instead as the bases for these festive holiday place cards. 

To make, cut a branch (ours are black walnut) into thin rounds. Drill a hole in the center using a small bit. Insert sprigs of greenery (we used dwarf Alberta spruce), and position a cut-out paper name tag in the top of the branch, or tie on with colored twine. And don't forget a star at the top.

Decorate one or all of your finials (the small piece that screw on to the lamp's harp) by simply hot-gluing a pinecone on it for a wintry touch.

Ribbon card holders descend from extra-large tuxedo bows, bound tightly in the middle for a billowing effect; cards slide into "pockets" created by gluing narrow satin ribbon at various intervals.

Cranberries are a staple of the holiday table, but few of us know them other than as a relish or jelly. Keep these native fruits in view by using them as a flower frog instead of using pebbles or marbles; they will hold stems in place for about a week. Use hard cranberries and wash them well before submerging in water.

With the help of these candle and flower centerpieces, the whole table will shine. For each one, use candle wax to attach a small floral frog to the center of a shallow bowl. Push a taper into the floral frog to secure. Pour water into the bowl. Clip amaryllis blooms (or other large flowers) from their stems, and arrange them in the bowl around the candle.

Pinecones and evergreens belong together, especially in holiday garlands. Here, we've shaped them into rosettes for a decoration that stands out but is easy to make.

Tiny bulbs create a striking modern display when placed in frosted cylindrical vases. Wrap ribbon around the bottoms of the vases and affix with double-sided tape. Loosely coil a single strand of lights in each vase, and then send the plug end over the back lip of the vase and run it behind so it's hidden. Use lights that have been tested for safety (look on the label), and always unplug the strand when left unattended.

Personalize your holiday decor by creating this attractive and unique monogram wreath.

This project may look difficult and time-consuming, but we promise it's not. The trick is having enough snow and a few different styles of Bundt pans.

By simply gathering pinecones from outdoors and adding a few embellishments, you can decorate your entire tree, a garland, or a wreath.

This sweet decoration is easy enough for little hands to make (as long as they don't end up eating all of the candy first). Just take any candy that you can pierce and string it onto waxed twine or dental floss.

Use adhesive hooks to hang lights in a myriad of holiday shapes. Here, we created a Christmas tree, the perfect wintry decoration for your child's bedroom.

This simple arrangement will fill your home with the aroma of a winter walk in the woods. Pick a branch with interesting, sculptural lines and lots of fresh needles, and collect a few handfuls of pinecones to use as a frog to steady the branch. 

When you include woody plants like this in arrangements, cut the end that will be submerged with pruning shears; this allows it to absorb water more easily. Use a widemouthed glass vase so the pinecones are visible; fill with water, and set the branch firmly among the cones.

Using our template, this project is as easy as can be. Just print, punch, and adhere to a glass hurricane for a striking decoration.

Garlands are traditional for staircases, but a satin ribbon swag with lots of bows hung beneath a windowsill can add architectural interest and a bit of whimsy. Make the bows first, then pin them to ribbon taped to the sill.

Pile jewel-like ornaments on top of an urn for a festive, easy holiday decoration.

Evergreen garlands and Christmas stockings belong over the fireplace, but arranging them on the mantel can damage the surface.

Instead, cut a piece of 3/4-inch plywood to the length and width of the mantel. Paint wood and two C-clamps to match the mantel. Place chair glides on the bottom of the wood at the four corners, then clamp to mantel. Tap in nails for stockings and decorative greenery. After the holidays, store the pieces with your other holiday decorations until next year.

The best material for stringing cranberry or popcorn garlands is inside your medicine cabinet. Waxed floss is strong and slick, so cranberries and popcorn will slide on easily. Knot one end of a piece of floss and thread a needle onto the other; just pierce through items and slip them on.

With just four materials and two easy steps, you can make one -- or more -- of these beautiful, wintry wreaths to hang indoors or outside.

Here, we offer an easy, decorative way to catch dripping candle wax, fitting for the holidays and taking only a few minutes to make.

Fragrant and beautiful, these citrus pomanders are easy to make -- you can put together a few or many to set out as a centerpiece on your holiday table.

Drape this delicate garland over your mantel, banister, or mirror this holiday season and enjoy this magical -- and long-lasting -- holiday swag well into the new year.

With a few bags of cotton balls, you can blanket a tree with the softest snow. 

Thread a needle with fifteen inches of fishing line and sew through two or three cotton balls, leaving gaps between (dab white glue next to each so it won't slide); make loop for hanging. Use a sieve to add a dusting of cornstarch over the branches; cut batting for a skirt.

Create a unique vessel like this birch vase to arrange your winter floral arrangements. All you need is some birch bark, scissors, twine, and a vase.

Unlike Narnia, where it's always winter and Christmas never comes, this land of ice and snow welcomes festivities (soundtrack: Louis Armstrong's "Cool Yule"). A combination of vintage and contemporary vessels holds white spider mums as well as seeded eucalyptus (available at florists) and blue Atlas cedar branches lightly frosted with silver floral spray paint. For a change of scene, line up containers across a mantel, along a windowsill, or down the middle of a table.

Take pieces of a pinecone and leaves and gather together to make a small florette. Attach them to a decorative ribbon and adhere to a large hurricane with a candle for a decoration that is stunning on a holiday table or mantel.

Create an idealized winter wonderland indoors using snowflake-like bouquet holders and a string of holiday lights. To make one of these garlands, slide a store-bought paper bouquet holder over each bulb. Hang the "snowflakes" inside a doorway or a window, and then plug in the lights.

Kids can happily occupy themselves cutting out dozens of paper snowflakes. Then adults can step in with thread and tape, and together you can watch your family's own gentle blizzard materialize into a wreath or a wintry landscape.

Gather as many pinecones as you can before the winter snow hits and simply dip them in gold paint (or choose a color of your liking) and let them dry. You can then place them in a bowl to display as a centerpiece or hang them from a satin ribbon as a festive decoration.

Tuxedo bows accessorize dapper glass votives wrapped in satin ribbon. You can give a set with a ribbon-covered matchbook as a gift.

A lovely, homemade decoration can be as easy as adorning light fixtures you already have in your home with magnolia leaves.

For a twist on a classic Advent calendar, think inside the box. Use vinyl number stickers, from 1 to 24, to label lids of colorful gift and jewelry boxes culled from Christmases past. Hang with removable poster putty. Then fill each box with a toy or treat.

Because this project only takes a few materials to make, any child 6 years or older can create one with great success -- or even a dozen to give as holiday gifts.