Merry Monday Link Party 132

It’s time to party again at the Merry Monday Link Party 132! You may have noticed that we are decking the halls with all things Christmas, including our host picks below. While you’re here, don’t miss the 12 Days of Christmas Ideas series to get ideas for gifts, organization, decor, and more! Check back daily to see each new post in the series. Now, let’s get the party started and link up your latest awesome ideas with us at below! 

Welcome to the Merry Monday Link Party #132 – Christmas Features!

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Thanks for joining us for another Merry Monday party! Today, we have Christmas features to help kick-off your holiday season!

Meet the hosts of the 2016 Merry Monday Link Party

Merry Monday Link Party Hosts

It’s Facebook Follow Week at Merry Monday! Although it isn’t required, we’d love for you to follow your Host on Facebook. If you would like us to follow back, let us know you’re following from the party by using #MM so we can follow back!

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12 Days of Handmade Gifts

12 More Days of Handmade Christmas Gifts! via Coupons and Freebies Mom (PIN IT)

Host Feature Picks

Christmas Features 1

Erlene’s pick: DIY Christmas Tree Plastic Spoon Craft | The Heathered Nest (PIN IT)

Kim’s pick: Simple DIY Copper Greenery Wreath | Refresh Living (PIN IT)

Amanda’s pick: Festive Dessert & Coffee Bar with Apple Cheesecake Crumble Recipe | April Golightly (PIN IT)

Christmas Features 2

Katies’s pick: Quick and Easy Christmas Sign | One Thousand Oaks (PIN IT)

Shirley’s pick: Candy Cane Snowman | Val Event Gal (PIN IT)

Dee’s pick: Hand Painted Christmas Tree Sign| The Kolb Corner (PIN IT)

Host picks 3

Megan’s pick: Jolly ‘Ole Santa Christmas Tablescape | The Everyday Home (PIN IT)

Emily’s pick: DIY Song Lyrics Sign / Christmas Carol Sign: O’Holy Night | The Happy Housie (PIN IT)

Marie’s pick: Farmhouse Pulley and Bucket Planter | Redo It Yourself Inspirations (PIN IT)

Christmas features 4

Chelc’s pick: DIY Pie Tin and Bottle Brush Tree Centerpiece | Dagmar’s Home (PIN IT)

Lindsay’s pick: Caramel Mocha Pumpkin Bread | ITSPAMDEL (PIN IT)

Sara’s pick: Easy DIY Christmas Tree Sign | The Honeycomb Home (PIN IT)


All features & host favorites are pinned to the Merry Monday Link Party Board!

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[bctt tweet=”Time to party! Join the #MerryMonday Link Party 132 #bloggers #linkparty” username=”diyadulation”]

Party Rules – Please read!

Merry Monday Link Party Rules

Merry Monday Link Party #132 – Christmas Features!

Please only share posts that show us a tutorial, “how to” craft, or a useful/helpful tip! All others will be deleted.


12 Christmas Tablescape Ideas For Every Style

Welcome back. If you have joined us for the 12 Days of Christmas Ideas Series then you know that I, along with eleven other talented bloggers, are in full Christmas mode. We’ve rounded up the best of the best Christmas ideas to make your holiday season more festive and fun. Today is day 4 and Michelle is sharing 12 Christmas tablescape ideas for every style!

Every day December 1-12th we will be sharing a new collection of Christmas Ideas rounded up from our best blogging friends around the web. That’s a total of 144 awesome Christmas Ideas to make your holiday season easier and more fun! Some of our topics include Decor, DIY, Organization, Food, Games and so much more. We don’t want to spoil the fun by telling you too much. We want you to be surprised! Now is the perfect time to subscribe so you’ll be the first to know!

 

Meet The Hostesses

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Day 4 Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Shirley of Intelligent Domestications ~ Erlene of My Pinterventures ~ Lindsay of Crazy Organized

Michelle of Our Crafty Mom ~ Stephanie of The Tip Toe Fairy ~ Lorelai of
Life With Lorelai

Katie of The Organized Dream ~ Amanda of The Kolb Corner ~ Marie of DIY Adulation

Megan of C’mon Get Crafty ~ Sara of Twelve On Main ~ Kim of Made in a Day

Christmas Tablescape Ideas For Every Style Our Crafty Mom

IT’S DAY FOUR AND WE’RE SHARING

12 Christmas Tablescape Ideas For Every Style

I love to decorate a pretty table as so many of you do. It really is fun to see the different decorating styles that people have and how they decorate their tables for Christmas. Today I am not only sharing my Christmas Tablescape, but 11 other beautiful tablescapes in different styles so you have plenty of options for your own Christmas Tablescape. I would classify my style as Rustic Glam which basically means lots of glitz and glam!

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Silver & Gold Christmas Tablescape Our Crafty Mom

Our Crafty Mom-Silver & Gold Christmas Tablescape

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Up To Date Interiors Feminine Christmas Table

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

The Crazy Organized Blog-Christmas Tablescape

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Twelve On Main-Farmhouse Christmas Dining Room

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Sondra Lyn At Home Merry & Toile Tablescape

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Monica Wants It All-Black, White, Gold & Red Tablescape

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Pink Fortitude-Rustic Christmas Tablescape

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

CCMcAfee Perspective-Christmas Home Tour

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Pink Peppermint Design-How To Set A Beautiful Christmas Tablescape

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

Windgate Lane-Home For The Holidays

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

A Purdy Little House-Christmas Tablescape

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop-Christmas Tablescapes Our Crafty Mom

C’mon Get Crafty-A Simple Christmas Tablescape

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Thanks so much for joining us for the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop! If you missed any of our fun collections just see the links below!

Happy Holidays!!!

Creating Your Future: December 2016 Goals

Can you believe that it is December already? It feels like just yesterday we were creating last month’s goals. In case you didn’t see it, make sure to snag your free Monthly Goal Setting Planner to make achieving your goals even easier. Whether you’re looking at November’s goals and feeling a little discouraged or you are excited to rock another month, it is time to create your December goals. Don’t get discouraged if last month wasn’t as successful as you hoped. If you’ve never been a goal planner it will take time to get on top of your plans. If you need some inspiration, keep reading below to see how I did in November and what this month’s goals are.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission. Read the full disclosure here.

Whether you’re feeling discouraged about November's goals or you are excited to rock another month, it is time to create your December goals. Plus find out how I did last month!

 

[bctt tweet=”Whether you’re feeling discouraged or excited to rock another month, it is time to create your December goals. #goals” username=”diyadulation”]

 

Whether you’re feeling discouraged about November's goals or you are excited to rock another month, it is time to create your December goals. Plus find out how I did last month!

November Evaluation

Business Goals

Create an Instagram Plan – Success

  • Not only did I manage to post more consistently, I was introduced to an awesome tool that makes this easy to schedule and post. Yay!

Add Daily New Listing to Etsy – Fail

  • Seriously, I failed so hard at this. I think I got 10 items listed and that’s it. I literally have 100’s of items to upload and currently they are sitting in boxes and organizers just waiting. Daily was too ambitious of a goal. This month I’m going to shoot for adding 2 items a week.

Plan New Revenue Stream – Success

  • I did decide on a new revenue stream. It is technically something I’m already doing but in December I’m going to focus on affiliate marketing. Currently I simply throw links in to direct you to the supplies needed for the projects. I have been neglecting in this area and I want to really hit this hard in December.

Get Ahead on Posts – Success

  • I have been very diligent about outlining and creating. This has given me a leg up on my posts. Admittedly, this week I have been on overdrive because in addition to my regular editorial calendar, I have some other projects that I am taking part in. That’s why this week (and for the next 2 weeks) you are seeing 2 posts go live on some days.

Finance Goals

Save $200 (or more) in an Emergency Fund – Near Success

  • I saved $150 so I’m pretty happy. It would have been more but most of our “extra” money was allocated to Christmas in our budget. My oldest also conveniently forgot about multiple school events, trips, etcetera that cost money so that came out of this fund. The joys of mom-life, right?

Meal Plan – Success

  • While I haven’t gotten any posts about it up yet, we totally rocked our meal plan this month. Of course, having so many holiday dinners helped make it easier.

Extra Cash – Fail

  • I didn’t even attempt this one. I was going to sell some of the items we’re purging but I only got as far as boxing them up. On the upside, that will make it easier to do this month.

Organizational Goals

Get rid of one item each day. – Crushed

  • I didn’t just get rid of 1 item a day. I boxed up hundreds of items last month and I plan to continue to do so in December.

Empty Living Room – Semi-Success

  • It is not done but I’ve made huge strides in the room. I knew this would be a huge undertaking for around the holidays so that fact that the entire living room remodel should be done in the next week is pretty awesome. A huge thanks to my best friend for coming over one night and helping me knock a lot of it out!

Family

Family Dinners – Success

  • Sometimes getting through the family dinner was rough but we are getting into the swing of things. They are much better now than they were at the beginning of the month.

Weekly Family Night – Success

  • We did make weekly family nights a priority. Some were very successful and fun while others, not so much. Either way we made memories that I wouldn’t trade for the world!

Self-Improvement

Complete Monthly Fitness Challenge – Fail

  • I have realized that I really need to restructure my days and get more rigid with my routine. Tasks are not done at the same time each day (except dinner and working after the kiddos go to bed). I wasn’t remotely consistent with my schedule and fitness became hit or miss.

Increase Gratitude – Success

  • I didn’t remember to write the 3 things every day. I set an alarm on my phone to remind me each day around the middle of the month. Before having the alarm idea, though, I would write additional entries for the days I missed. Since the entire exercise was about becoming more mindful about being thankful, I’m considering it a success. I feel that I have accomplished that.

Read 20 Minutes a Day – Success

  • Some days I actually surpassed this. I got caught up reading and go well past 20 minutes. This is definitely one of those goals that once your sit down and start, it is easy to complete (for those who enjoy reading).

 

Whether you’re feeling discouraged about November's goals or you are excited to rock another month, it is time to create your December goals. Plus find out how I did last month!

December Goals

Business Goals

  • Affiliate Marketing – I want to really spend December testing what works and what doesn’t. This will help me plan the coming months.
  • Create 2017 Business Plan
  • Take the Week of Christmas Off – I think the most important aspects of building a successful business is to be able to take time off and the business continues to run. This will be like the ultimate test to see if DIY Adulation is ready to go to the next level.

Finance Goals

  • Save Another $200 – I like this number because it small enough to seem possible but large enough to require some sacrifice (such as not eating out or skipping extra trips in the van).
  • Continue Meal-Planning – This made dinners such a breeze that I definitely want to keep going.
  • Re-Read The Total Money Makeover – I love this book. I cannot say enough good things about it. However, when you haven’t referenced it in a while you can lose intensity. By re-reading the book I hope to re-ignite that fire. (This works directly towards my long-term goal of paying off my student loans.)

Organizational Goals

  • Continue to Get Rid of 1 Item A Day
  • Finish Living Room – I am tantalizingly close and I want to finish it by the end of next week so I can get Christmas decorations up.
  • Start Moving Office – Being a DIY blogger takes up a lot of space. Right now my office is in a tiny room in the corner of my house and it is overflowing, not-to-mention staging photos is a nightmare. The office is moving to the basement to provide me with the space I need to get everything done.

Self-Improvement Goals

  • Develop a Specific Routine – I am going to create a specific daily routine that will allow me to spend time doing all of the things I want and need to do each day.
  • Do One Activity that Brings Me Joy Each Week – The stress of the holidays and growing my business are really getting to me. Part of this is because I am pushing myself so hard that I’m no longer taking the time to do the things I love. Instead of reading a book or going to karaoke, I am filling that time with work. While I am seeing results, it is also killing me. I need to be more diligent with my “me-time”.

Family Goals

  • Weekly Family Nights – Even mixed results are worth it. We are enjoying the time together and I want to continue making these a priority.
  • Create and Enforce Chore Charts – This will be for everyone. Somewhere along the line my kiddos started developing lazy and self-entitled attitudes. I’m not having that so the whole family is getting chore charts.

 

Whether you’re feeling discouraged about November's goals or you are excited to rock another month, it is time to create your December goals. Plus find out how I did last month!

Wow, you guys, that is a lot. Even the goals I failed at taught me something to make my life (and future) better. Conquering your goals is moving towards creating your future. Even if you only manage to accomplish half of your monthly goals you are moving towards living a life you love. What are your goals for December? How did you do on your November goals? Don’t forget that there is an evaluation page in the Monthly Goal Setting Planner that helps you figure out what worked, what didn’t, and why.

See where I’m linking up!