Jess and I had a "what if" moment as we were looking at and thinking about the new 7 Gypsies ATC photo display stands.  What else could we do with it and what if... we treated it more or less like a Christmas tree?  What kinds of "ornaments" we could create?  What else could we do to add character and make it a unique piece?

This is the basic display, naked and ready for us to attack it with a healthy dose of creativity.  Each comes unassembled, though it goes together quickly and easily.  There are 25 gator clips included, though had we made many more ornaments we would have needed to open one of the packages of additional gator clips that are sold separately.

We spent about 4 hours one afternoon creating the ornaments, plus I spent an additional couple of hours messing after the fact.  This is what we were able to come up with, which I think is nicely festive!

Given more time, of which there never is enough, I know we could have created more goodies to adorn the display.  What follows are some close-ups of the individual cards, tags, and other decorative bits, plus info so you know what we used.
 

It doesn't take anything super fancy to look great on the "tree"  The angel heads were cut from a piece of Graphics 45 Christmas Past Ode to Joy sheet of 12" x 12" paper.  You can't see it, but I used Stickles "Icicle" on the wings, just a bit smooshed here and there, to give them a bit of sparkle.  The tag you see on the left, with the angel holding a tree, is one we punched out of the Graphics 45 Christmas Past Tags sheet and clipped on - no fuss, no muss!  Just peeling out from the left edge of that tag is a Santa cut from a Full Page Santa Printed Fabric Images sheet.  Hanging just about in the center is a Tattered Angels Glimmer Chip taken from the Frosty Memories Stamped set.  Some we embellished with markers and Stickles glitter glue and some, like this one, we simply clipped on and that was it.  Jess took some lengths of leftover ribbon lengths from a Special Effects 6 yard assortment and wrapped it around the upper tier.
 

This is one of the glimmer chips that Jess colored with markers, added red holly berries with Stickles Christmas Red Glitter Glue, then tied a bow and glued it to finish.  Fast and easy!

This bird is from the 7 Gypsies Pricessa Tags set.  I just used some Distress Ink to add color to the paper, added some dots with a Pigma pen, circled some of the silver glitter, and that was it.  I cut a hat out from a Artchix collage sheet, glued it on and then glued a rhinestone to the flower center.

Here's the back of the bird.  I added more red to color the back side of him and then just wrote all over the red so it wasn't totally plain.

Andy is 14 months old now and here he is with Murphy.  I layered several papers, added a ATC sheet from one of the ATC Christmas paper pads, then cut Andy and Murphy from a photo before I layered them on top.

This photo was taken when Jess and Todd took the kids to get a Christmas tree.  Jess cut it to remove all of the background and then used 4 corners from the same Glimmer Chips Frosty Memories Stamped set.  She added some color with markers and cut out a sprig of holly and glued it over one corner.

This piece was really simple.  I cut out a rectangle from a Graphics 45 Christmas Past paper, glued an ATC sheet from one of the Christmas ATC paper pads and layered a tag element from the 7 Gypsies Vintage tags set over them both.  A Santa face cut from the Full Page Santa Printed Fabric Image sheet went on next.  I added a bit of Prima Venice lace trim to the bottom and some Prima paper leaves that I added some color and sparkle to.  The leaves were the plain white ones that I dry brushed Lumiere Metallic Silver paint over so that the high areas were colored.  Next was to add veins in the low sections using Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue.  The final bits were the 4mm Swarovski rhinestones because... well, because I'm a sucker for them!

I found myself working in a mini series with this one and the one above.  The process was more or less the same - cut a piece of paper, layer on the elements, add some lace along the bottom, add embellished leaves and rhinestones - done!

Jess went for more of a simple look here.  It's just a piece of paper cut to accommodate the snowman which she embellished and glued to the Graphics 45 paper.  He too is part of the Tattered Angels Glimmer Chips - did I mention that they're self-adhesive?  She added color with markers and for a really special touch, used AIG Vintage Glass glitter to add the shadow along his left side.

Did I mention that Andy is a ham?  In keeping with her "simple is more" theme, Jess just cut Mr Bashful from the photo and glued him to a piece of Graphics 45 paper.  Christmas Red Stickles for the dots in the background and that silly hat?  It's also part of the Glimmer chips set!

The tag hung horizontally is from the Graphics 45 Christmas Past Tags sheet.  Jess punched it out and tied the various ribbons from the Special Effects 6 yard assortment to it.  You can also see that she twined some silver leaf trim around the center post and then ran it out to the edge of the tier.  She also grabbed a small section of velvet leaves that I had hanging around and attached them to the tier too.  Just above the velvet leaves you can see another of the elements from the Glimmer Chips set.  Though it's not evident in the photo, I added some bling with Stickles Glitter Glue. 

Of course we would have liked to have had time to really fill the tree with more, but as usually is the case, there just aren't enough hours in the day.  And it's that lack of time that makes me think that if I can grab an hour here or there by next Christmas it really will be full and even nicer looking.

If you have a hankering to give this a try... here's where you can find all of the stuff - click the words to see the product:

7 Gypsies ATC and Photo Display Stand *** Graphics 45 Christmas Past Paper Collection *** Stickles Glitter Glue
Printed Fabric Images *** Tattered Angels Glimmer Chips Sets *** Special Effects Fiber Assortments
7 Gypsies Princess & Vintage Tags *** Distress Dye Ink Pads *** Artchix collage sheets *** Swarovski 4mm Rhinestones
ATC Paper Pads *** Prima Venice Lace *** Lumiere Paint *** AIG Vintage Glass Glitter *** Velvet Leaves