I Built a Gigantic AI-Made Christmas Tree (Full of People Worth Reading)
Wishing you a very Substack Christmas 🎄
Today is about the people who made this year what it was, for me. And if you’re looking for new things to read in 2026, start here.
I started writing on Substack with no expectations. I had no idea if anyone would even read it, nor did I imagine it would all grow so fast.
But somewhere along the way, people showed up. Not just to read, but to talk, to share, to build alongside me.
The people in this corner of the internet feel almost like colleagues. Like we’re all figuring this out together, learning in public, stumbling in public, celebrating small wins together. And many of you have started feeling like friends. The kind where you forget you’ve never actually met in person.
So I wanted to do something for you. Not just say thank you, but show it.
And that’s how, being my silly self, I ended up making a Substack Christmas tree, with all of you as the ornaments.
And when I say ornaments, I mean actual porcelain ornaments. Like this:
There are over 90 ornaments on this tree. And every single one is someone who has impacted my journey this year.
People who wrote things that made me think. People who left comments that made my day. People I admire from afar, people I’ve collaborated with, people I just really like.
AI creators mostly, yes, but also people writing about startups, financial markets, product, and life in general. And some have no publications at all. They’re readers.
I just hope I didn’t forget too many of you.
But the good news is…
The tree is interactive (and you can join it!)
The Christmas tree is dynamic — it grows when new ornaments are added.
You can:
Browse all the creators and click on their ornaments to see their publications and bios
Search by keywords to find creators writing about topics you care about
Download any ornament image by clicking on it
Add yourself to the tree! Create your own Christmas ornament and join us (I’ll share the prompt below)
Whether you’re a creator or “just” a reader (there’s no “just” about it), you can add yourself. Let’s make this a snapshot of our little corner of the internet.
⚠️ One small note: be careful when you save your globe, you can’t go back to edit. I didn’t want anyone accidentally removing ornaments, so there’s no edit function.
How I built this (the AI rabbit hole)
You know me, I can’t share something without showing you how I made it. What started as “I’ll spend an hour on this” turned into a fun half-day project. Classic.
Step 1: The inspiration
I saw a Romanian beauty influencer on Instagram post these cute porcelain-style Christmas ornaments with images of herself. Screenshot. Saved. Idea planted.
Step 2: Reverse-engineering the prompt
The next day, it hit me: what if I made ornaments of all the amazing people on Substack?
I sent Gemini the inspiration image and asked it to reverse-engineer the prompt.
After a few tweaks, here’s what I landed on:
A high-quality glossy porcelain Christmas tree ornament figurine of the person in the image. The figure is stylized as a collectible keepsake ornament with smooth, painted ceramic skin texture and sculpted hair. The ornament hangs from a silver string on a realistic pine tree branch. The background features warm, glowing red and orange holiday lights with heavy bokeh depth of field. Professional product photography, festive atmosphere, 8k resolution, highly detailed, 1:1 aspect ratio.
Try it with your own photos. Family, friends, colleagues, whoever. And make sure you add yourself to the tree too!
Step 3: The automation (because 90+ people is a lot)
After manually creating a few ornaments (download Substack profile image, paste prompt, wait 30-60 seconds, save, rename) I realized this would take forever.
So I did what any reasonable AI person would do: I built an automation in n8n.
I upload profile images to a Google Drive folder
The workflow triggers when a new image is added
It downloads the image, converts it to base64 string so Gemini API can work with it
Sends it to Gemini API with the prompt I shared above (using Nano Banana Pro)
Downloads the generated ornament
Uploads it to a different Drive folder, renamed (e.g., “MichaelSpencer.png” → “MichaelSpencer_globe.png”)
Step 4: The grid problem
Now I wanted Nano Banana Pro to create one massive Christmas tree image with all the ornaments. Small problem: Gemini has a 10 reference image limit per run.
Solution? I went to Canva and created grid images, combining multiple ornaments into single reference images.
Step 5: The debugging saga
This is where things got... interesting.
I crafted a detailed prompt for a gigantic Christmas tree with all the ornaments. But some of you are well-known public figures according to Gemini and I kept hitting content policy errors.
Then, I tried creating a Canvas instead of an image, and also tried building it in Google AI Studio. Both gave me results that were far from what I wanted. I even tried approaching it differently, like generating placeholder globes first and then assembling the tree with images.
I probably could have figured it out eventually, but it would have meant making all the images public so they could be accessed, and that felt like too much hassle.
So I decided to pivot.
Step 6: Lovable to the rescue
I turned to my trusty vibe-coding companion, Lovable. Using my CustomGPT (The Lovable Prompt Architect) to generate the right prompt, I built:
An interactive, zoomable Christmas tree
Clickable ornaments with creator info and publication links
Download functionality for each ornament
The ability to add new ornaments (so you can join!)
A search feature to find creators by topic and name
And that’s how we got here: substack-christmas-tree.lovable.app
This is how AI actually works. You start with a small idea. “I’ll just make a few cute ornaments as a thank you.” Then it expands. “Actually, let me automate this.” Then it expands again. “What if it was interactive?” And suddenly it’s 6 hours later and you’ve built a whole thing.
I could have stopped at the porcelain ornaments. But I couldn’t. And it was so much fun. If you want to take this idea and make some ornaments for yourself or your loved ones, go for it. The prompt is yours.
Thank you ❤️
Whether I interacted with you directly, read your work from afar, admired what you’ve been building, or you’re a reader who’s been following along with my AI experiments, I’m grateful for you.
You made this year what it was. And I hope this silly gigantic tree brings you some of the joy I had making it.
The people on the tree & new reads for 2026
In no specific order, here’s everyone on the tree. Some you might already know, some might be new to you. Go explore, you might find your next favorite read for 2026.
And if you're someone on the tree, you can download your ornament from here.
Michael Spencer writing AI Supremacy: News at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, technology and business including Op-Eds, research summaries, guest contributions and valuable info about A.I. startups.
TechTiff writing The AI Creator Drop: AI prompts, automation & systems for creators & entrepreneurs ready to scale their online business without burnout. Work smart. Automate harder.
Kamil Banc writing AI Adopters Club: Become the AI expert at your company. Get practical workflows and templates that save time, cut costs, make money, and prove your value. I give you the playbook, you get the results. Deal?
Karo (Product with Attitude) writing Product with Attitude: AI Product Manager turning everyone into AI builders. I help you design, build and test your product, and feature it on StackShelf.app. I connect you with a supportive 10K+ community building and learning in public.
Karen Spinner writing Wondering About AI: Real-life experiments with AI plus insights based on the latest research. No hype zone.
Jenny Ouyang writing Build to Launch: Turn AI ideas into shipped products. Proven systems and showcase opportunities for builders who launch.
Rich Carr writing Brain-centric: Make people stop resisting your ideas and start adopting them. I reveal the cognitive science of invisible influence, why some get heard while others get ignored, and how to make every idea land. One framework per week. The skill AI can't touch.
Ruben Hassid writing How to AI: People think learning AI is hard. It’s not. Just two emails a week with stupidly practical AI guides. Work faster & write better without becoming a prompt engineer. Subscribe for FREE below.
Sam Illingworth writing Slow AI : Get weekly Slow AI prompts that help you think with more intention, create with less pressure, and develop a calmer, more human way of using AI.
Mia Kiraki 🎭 writing ROBOTS ATE MY HOMEWORK: AI workflows for creators who refuse to be boring. Get complete systems + strategic depth + human creativity. Yes, the robots ate your homework—but we kept the good parts.
Wyndo writing The AI Maker: Making AI accessible for everyday life. Simple strategies to build smarter, work faster, and live better.
Charlie Hills writing MarTech AI: Weekly AI content strategy that actually works.
Jurgen Appelo writing The Maverick Mapmaker (on Multidisciplinary Teams & AI): Insights for M-shaped professionals and the teams they build, lead, and orchestrate. Snarky views on the future of work with a European touch.
Orel writing The Indiepreneur: Join hundreds of readers for a weekly post about entrepreneurship, the life of the entrepreneur and lessons from my entrepreneurship journey.
Paul Chaney writing AI Workplace Wellness: The go-to resource for organizations building healthy AI-powered workplaces.
Chris Tottman writing The Founders Corner®: Your weekly BOOST to Raise and Grow Like A Pro. Tips and Techniques used by prolific Founders.
Ollie Forsyth writing NEW ECONOMIES: NEW ECONOMIES is your regular newsletter that discovers the latest technology trends shaping our world.
James Presbitero writing Write10x : Helping mission-driven creatives and founders reach more people with AI, while staying authentic. Free tools to write 10x better, faster, and more human. Get the Active Prompt Vault (20+ high level prompts for writing and marketing) in the welcome email.
Alex McFarland writing AI WriterOps: Build AI writing operations that scale quality, not slop.
Thomas Belkowski writing In Company with AI: First-hand insights and unexpected experiments revealing what truly clicks with AI. Clear, practical, refreshingly real, and occasionally funny.
Alex B. writing Beyond the Shift: Exploring how AI, decentralization, and digital transformation are reshaping business, work, and governance; unlocking new opportunities and challenges in a rapidly evolving world.
Karen Smiley writing She Writes AI Community: We are building SheWritesAI as an accessible community and newsletter for women and nonbinary folks who write about AI and data here on Substack. Check out our weekly Digests, and please contact Karen Smiley with feature ideas or to volunteer!
Michael Simmons writing Blockbuster Blueprint: Receive a step-by-step, proven system to create 10x quality & quantity content with AI. Weekly emails contain a deep-dive or video lesson from a famous thinker and an easy way to apply it. Think Masterclass for idea creators.
Neil Winward writing MacroMashup: Every Friday morning, we cut through 50+ data points, policy headlines, and earnings calls to give you actionable clarity on U.S. markets, macro policy, and investor positioning — in under 10 minutes.
Joe Mills writing Aligned Influence: Aligned Influence offers essays, notes, and tools that teach sales and marketing strategies that work without pressure, hype, or manipulation and helps you build systems that sell while you create.
Kim Doyal writing Kim Doyal: Build AI-powered solutions without a coding degree. After 17+ years online, I’m showing you how to use AI to save time, scale smarter, and create tools you didn’t think you could. Get ‘the SPARK’ newsletter every Thursday + tutorials and guides in between
David Kyazze writing The Secure Circuit: Everything that is electronic warfare, ethical hacking, cybersecurity, and real-world ops.
Toni writing Vibe Product Marketing: The best place for Product Marketers to learn functional, actionable ways to implement AI
Leo Alexandru writing The Antifragile Leader: Principles, strategies, and habits that help leaders grow under pressure. The Antifragile Leadership Framework helps new and aspiring managers overwhelmed by pressure, chaos, or self-doubt grow stronger in tough times, not just survive them.
Jose Antonio Morales writing Growing Fearless is an Adventure: Let’s get real and build a great life—fearlessness, purpose, community, impact, adventure, and the tools to make it happen.
Raghav Mehra writing Cash & Cache: Where money meets code — exploring how tech is transforming businesses, markets, and value.
Joel Salinas writing Leadership in Change: Lead with AI. Lead through AI. Lead despite AI. The weekly playbook for leaders who want to get it right.
Claudia Faith writing Wander Wealth: The exact playbook I used to build a $5K+/mo newsletter in 12 months. Every Tuesday, get actionable strategies to grow your subscribers, convert readers into paying customers, and build income streams that scale. With proven systems 🚀.
Anfernee writing Solopreneur Code: Cracking the growth equation in a one person business and helping you break free. Subscribe now and receive the Solopreneur Success Hub!
Roi Ezra writing AI For Humanity: AI For Humanity is about knowing yourself with AI — because reflection, not speed, is the real advantage.
Justin Welsh writing Unsubscribe: One weekly essay for people stepping off the default path to build lives they love, supported by work they enjoy.
Bette A. Ludwig, PhD 🌱 writing AI Can Do That? 🔍: For curious humans who want to use and understand AI. I write for educators, parents, and busy people who want to stay in the know without having to sift through it all. If that’s you, then you’re in the right place.
Valerie Ehrlich, PhD writing The Bloom Shift: Where AI meets human potential: Guiding leaders through ethical technology integration that amplifies learning, fosters growth, and drives purposeful organizational change.
Jonas Braadbaart writing The Circuit: AI insights for people that want to work smarter, not harder
Dee McCrorey writing A Bridge to AI: Inside-out and outside-in perspectives on AI transformation: practical workplace and career strategies (A Bridge to AI) and how four global forces reshape our lives in the age of AI (The AI Inflection Point).
Jakub Slys 🤖 writing slys.dev: Ever wondered how Uber’s ride matching happens in seconds, why Instagram’s feed feels like it reads your mind, or how OpenAI’s chat models can hold conversations just like us? Subscribe to our blog and unravel these secrets together!
Ileana writing UX + AI: Build better experiences in a world shaped by AI. Practical insights at the intersection of UX, AI, and Product Strategy.
Daniel Ionescu writing Millennial Masters: Big ideas and bold moves. For founders and leaders building what’s next. ✨
Luan Doan writing Practical AI for Solo Entrepreneurs | SoloAILab: Shares how AI can be used to save time, write faster, and run smarter, through the lens of a real solo entrepreneur. Includes practical systems, workflows, and step-by-step guides you can apply today, without complex tools or tech overwhelm.
Farida Khalaf writing Lights On by Farida: A systems-driven newsletter from a data engineer and cybersecurity thinker, decoding complex data, technology, and business trends into actionable insight.
Juan Salas-Romer writing Build to Thrive: Build to Thrive delivers strategies, playbooks, trends and tools that help you build smarter, scale your business and stay ahead of the game.
John Brewton writing Operating by John Brewton: Weekly Reporting on the History & Future of Operating Companies
Dennis Berry writing Elite Leaders: Master your mind and your business... and design a high-performance life.
Yana G.Y. writing Unplugged by Yana G.Y.: [FREE 10-Day Course: Grow Your First 1000 Subscribers] Your One-Stop-Shop for Newsletter Growth: SUBSTACK QUEST, AI & AUTOMATION LABS, Courses, Strategies, Tactics, AI Tools, Challenges & 1:1 HELP to grow, convert & scale revenues. Unsubscribe any time.
🎈Noemi from ME TIME 🎈 writing Me Time: Pause - Decide - Do the Thing!: Build a portfolio career to overcome job insecurity, widen horizons & reignite the joy of making a living. A to Z guide to becoming a solopreneur ->>> Upgrade to paid (you can expense it) for Do Sessions to get your solo work done - together.
Julia Diez writing The AI-Ready Localizer: A newsletter exploring the intersection of technology, language, and culture through the lens of internationalization and localization.
Daniil Shykhov writing Growth Algorithm
Cristina writing The Responsible AI Brief: Equal Employment Opportunity Specialist and AI ethics writer | Helping leaders and everyday users navigate AI responsibly | Delivered EEO training to 1K+ professionals | Building literacy for a safer, more human future.
Tom Kuegler writing The Writing Long Game: Learn how to grow your Substack holistically, without burnout! Master Notes, improve your storytelling, and enjoy the act of writing. No hustle. No posting on 48 platforms. Just great writing that grows your audience.
Xinran Ma writing Design with AI: Practical articles every week to help you design better, faster, and smarter with AI.
Mike Goitein writing Product Strategy Decoded: Every week, I pull back the curtain and make strategy easier using a proven framework. You’ll get insights of what works today and why, with powerful takeaways you can apply to your own business.
AI Meets Girlboss writing AI Meets Girlboss: AI shortcuts and cheat codes for ambitious women who want to get ahead using AI without becoming “technical.” I’m Pinkie, and I’m your smart AI bestie who helps you work faster, sharper and look effortlessly on top of your game. Join the community!
Elena Calvillo at Product writing Product Release Notes: Weekly AI product insights, and career strategies that help ambitious product managers stay ahead of the curve. Get practical templates, real case studies, and the strategic thinking that separates great PMs from the rest.
Sharyph writing The Digital Creator: The Digital Creator is a newsletter that helps creators and entrepreneurs leverage their skills with AI and build a lean one-person business.
Ilia Karelin writing Prosper: The AI newsletter teaching you practical AI workflows, systems, and strategies to think better with AI – not just work faster.
Ruben Dominguez writing The VC Corner: The VC Corner is where founders stay ahead: sharp news, fundraising strategies, battle-tested playbooks, and the tools to grow.
Melanie Goodman writing The Link Tank™️: Welcome To The LinkTank®️ Thank you for joining me here and a warm welcome to the Link Tank®️, your one-stop resource for LinkedIn™️business development, strategy and training.
Heather Baker writing The Humans in the Loop: Where humans become top 1% AI users and thinkers.
Kacper Wojaczek writing Scramble IT: A blend of tech, society, science, psychology, and history. Thought-provoking ideas for the curious.
Jeff Morhous writing The AI-Augmented Engineer: Learn how to use AI tools to write better code, ship faster, and stay ahead of the curve
Claudia Ng writing AI Weekender: Learn how to use AI tools to write better code, ship faster, and stay ahead of the curve
Nitin Sharma writing AI Made Simple: Writing simple yet practical ways to use AI in everyday life and work.
Daniil Andreev writing Creators AI: Creators AI: AI insights, tools, guides for creators and entrepreneurs
Colette Molteni writing Empathy Elevated: Human skills for professionals adapting to the future of work
Jean-Paul Paoli writing The Intelligence Fabric: Unweaving AI’s impact on how we work, think, and relate. For leaders ready to shape their AI future.
Alex Poulin writing Reasoning for AI Models: Master AI reasoning models by improving YOUR reasoning, FIRST. Your intelligence > the artificial.
JHong writing Natural Intelligence: How to human in the age of AI. Random musings served with critical rigor. Where spiritual wisdom, marketing frameworks, and pop culture collide to make us better humans.
Steffi Kieffer writing Insanely Human: How to stay human in the age of AI, even when the robots are very confident about it. AI lessons, workshop secrets, and a steady dose of analog life.
Robert Beer writing Intellectual Wandering: I write about how I use AI solutions with my clients, in my value investing approach & about how we need to reimagine our role in the economy
Ryan @ AIForB2BMarketers writing AI For B2B Marketers: The only AI education platform designed by B2B Marketers for B2B Marketers.
Jeremy Camilloni writing whatisthat.ai | AI Tool Report: The AI Tool Report by whatisthat.ai tracks the AI market and shows you how to use it. Get exclusive data on traffic and trends, plus tutorials on building agents, automations, and workflows.
Alex Pawlowski writing The Strategy Stack: Stay ahead of the curve with insights designed for Chief Strategy Officers, corporate development leads, and innovation professionals. The Strategy Stack delivers curated tech trends, enterprise use cases, and actionable frameworks.
Juan Gonzalez writing Supercharged Learning HQ: Where you’ll find practical insights to get new skills, sharpen your current ones, and empower your life.
William Meller writing William Meller: Notes on careers, leadership, and management, sharing what I learn about growing, staying productive, building a personal brand, and keeping work and life simple.
Ana Calin writing How We Grow: Newsletter monetization without the grind. I built a 7-figure business working 2 hours/day. Now I show creators how to do the same. Your business should bend to your life—not the other way around. Systems over hustle. Freedom before scale.
Jen Phillips April writing The Conversion Engine : A weekly-ish practical tip for building a Really Simple Content Plan for profitable thriving without burnout.
Aniket Chhetri writing Grow With AI 📈: AI playbooks for growing your audience and income without wasting hours or burning out.
Tam Nguyen writing After Hours: You can’t scale because all the important stuff lives in your head. Weekly systems that turn your conversations into infrastructure that runs without you.
Tim M. Critical-AI-Solutions writing Silicon and Soul - Tim Moon: Technology, spirituality and human flourishing
Marylee Pangman, Author writing Knowing Yourself Through Fiction: Stories that help you see what’s still possible. Through the lives of five women finding courage, connection, and purpose, you’ll discover new ways to begin again. Wherever you are in your story.
Jude Manickam writing Jude's Typewriter: Personal Growth, Health & Wellness, Web3
Jack Harmer the Wrinkly Writer writing Nobody Told Me: I write for people approaching retirement, helping them understand the life and emotional changes that are coming, so they don’t make big decisions using old working-life thinking
Last but not least, some of my readers: Michael Bridges, Chip Hughes, David Jonah, Deep, Michael Langham.
And my friend, Matei Pavel who inspired me to start this newsletter and supported me with ideas, help, and advice every step of the way.
Happy holidays, everyone. 🎄✨
Daria
Absolutely great idea from Daria!
I’m not only glad to be on your list — I truly appreciate how you built it, the workflow behind it, and how you solved each challenge along the way.
A must-read for anyone exploring how to use AI and smart tools effectively.
This is SO FUN. Thank you for so generously sharing the prompt. I just made ornaments for my friend of her dogs as a little cheer-up 🤩