Miniature Apple Pie Tutorial

Well, I still haven't managed to resurrect my old hard drive. But I've decide to celebrate having a new computer up and running by recreating the mini apple pie tutorial I mentioned in an earlier post here. This tutorial is more or less the process I used to make the apple pies in my newest picture book An Apple Pie for Dinner (by Susan VanHecke, Marshall Cavendish, 2009). I learned the basic strategy for making the pies, the apples, and many of the other clay miniatures for the book from Sue Heaser's outstanding book Making Doll's House Miniatures with Polymer Clay.

You can read about Sue at her website here and also find ordering information for the book - which I really cannot recommend highly enough if you're into making polymer clay tiny things.

Anyway, here's the tut (I'll do the apples, and maybe some pumpkins or something too, tomorrow. I hope.):

STEP 1: Gather your materials (most of which are shown above)

• Clay I used Fimo "sandstone" for the crust and a mix of yellow and white for the apples (but you could certainly cheat on them since they barely show). Any brand of polymer clay will work. If you're making this with a very young child, you might want to consider using a more kid-friendly modeling material like Crayola's Model Magic, plasticine, or even play dough. For that matter, you could use snippets of real dough and apple bits (though I'd recommend either not eating the finished product or removing the plastic liner from the bottle cap first).
• Bottle Cap This will be the pie pan. You can buy unused ones at craft stores or some kitchen/beer-making supply places and they're really ideal since they flare out a little more. But I just used one from a bottle of root beer, and it was fine. If you're making this with a young child, consider using some larger "pan" like a bigger metal lid or dessert patty pan - this scale is challenging for little fingers.
• Soft Pastels OR Ground Cinnamon You'll use these to "brown" your pie to a lovely golden color. You also need a tool to scrape some of the pastel dust off and a paint brush to spread the coloring, whichever you use. I used real cinnamon, which works just as well and has the added advantage of smelling lovely.
• A Cutting Tool I love the super thin slicing tool pictured above, but an x-acto blade or old paring knife (NOT one you'll want to use again for food) or other sharp blade will do. Obviously an adult should use the sharp tool!
• Waxed Paper Or something similar to protect your work surface. Do not use polymer clay directly on wood or on any surface used for food preparation or consumption.
• A Baking Container Many polymer clay artists prefer glass pans, but I find cookie sheets, metal or ceramic baking dishes or cheap aluminum bakeware works fine. You can even just bake the little pies inside a cupcake liner place carefully on the rack. Just don't use a container you'll want to bake food in again.
• A Small Wad of Fiberfill (optional) For filler in the bottom of your pie and a few strands for "steam."
• Miscellaneous A soft brush (even a soft OLD toothbrush will do), a pointy thing like a bamboo skewer or knitting needle if you want to make a traditional top crust (I'm going to show a lattice-top crust). If you want to add steam, you'll also need a couple drops of a glue that adheres to clay. And if you want a sliced pie, some gloss medium or varnish will give it a more realistic look.

STEP 2 Prepare the crust

Cover your work surface with waxed paper. Then condition the clay you're using for the crust by kneading it with your fingers or running it through a craft pasta machine. You'll need two balls about the size shown (I stuck the penny and bottle cap in to help you judge the amount.)

STEP 3: Roll out the dough into circles

I didn't actually roll these out - just flattened them with my fingers. With a pasta machine, use the #4 setting. The kids I've done this project with really liked using miniature rolling pins, but then we had to go back and fine tune with fingers. Ideally, the crusts should be very thin (especially the one for the top crust).

STEP 4: Put the crust in the pan

I used the rounded end of my old toothbrush to help work the crust tightly against the sides of the "pan." Any rounded object will work.

STEP 5: Trim the excess dough

Not really a precision maneuver at this point. It does help to leave a little dough overlapping the top crust, especially if you're going to make a full top crust. This is easier with the flared unused bottle caps, but you can fudge with either.

STEP 6: Prepare the filling

I like to put a small wad of fiber fill in the bottom of my pie as filler - but you could also make a zillion more mini apples or use little lumps of clay. If you want to make the finished pie look like it has a slice taken out of it, make sure you cut away a slice of bottom crust and leave just a couple crumbs and a couple apple bits in the bottom. Save the cut out bottom crust to make a slice that will stand on its own.

(By the way, I had too much fiberfill in the picture above and took some out before filling it with my apples.)

Prepare the clay for the apples by conditioning a small ball of white and a pinch of yellow and kneading them together until they're a pale yellow. You can add a smidge of green too, especially if they're supposed to be Granny Smith apples.

Form this clay into small apple crescents. They won't really show much if your pie is completely covered, but they look good peeking through and give the top crust a natural lumpy look.

STEP 7: Dump the filling in the pan

Really, carefully arrange your mini apples over the fiberfill or clay lumps. Remember the nearly "empty" area if the pie will be missing a slice, and put some apples in the cut out slice you set aside.

At this point, you can sprinkle/brush a little cinnamon or cinnamon-colored pastel over the prepared apples - more important for a sliced pie than a covered one. (Don't forget to add some to your separate slice too.)

STEP 8 Prepare the top crust (Sorry for the lousy photo here.)

Retrieve the other crust circle. If you'll be making a lattice top like I am, cut it into narrow slices. I wanted at least 10 strips, so I could have 5 in each direction.

If you'll be making a full top crust, use your skewer or knitting needle to poke some holes in the top (where the steam would escape). You can also use clay scraps to make little leaves or a tiny apple for a decoration for the top. Finally, if you want a sliced pie, cut out a wedge shape out of the top crust now - it's trickier to slice it once it's in place.

Step 9: Put the top crust in place

For a full crust, lay it in position (carefully if you're going for the sliced look) and push it down around the edges of the bottom crust, remove the excess, and use your skewer or knitting needle to "crimp" the edge, just like you would use a fork to crimp a real pie crust.

If you're doing a lattice top like I am, follow these directions:

a) Lay five parallel strips, leaving the same width between strips, across the top as shown. Place the longest strip down the middle, the next 2 on either side of it, and the 2 shortest toward the edges. (I'm going to refer to the strips by number, with "1" at the top.)

b) Gently fold strips 1, 3, and 5 back on themselves, leaving 2 and 4 in place.

c) Lay a new strip (the other longest one) down the center of the pie over strips 2 and 4. Then fold numbers 1, 3, and 5 back down. You've finished the first weaving!

d) Now fold #2 and 4 back on themselves, leaving 1, 3, and 5 in place.

e) Lay the next longest strip parallel to the one you just place and fold strips 2 and 4 back in place. I have no idea why this is underlining.

f) Go the other side of the center strip and again fold 2 and 4 back on themselves, but in the opposite direction. Lay another strip down and fold 2 and 4 back. It should like the picture above.

Repeat with the last 2 small strips, but folding 1, 3, and 5 back in opposite directions and replacing them (should look like the photo below).

STEP 10: Trim the excess

Just make sure the top crust is adhering well to the bottom one and/or the pan.

If you're making the other style top, also remove the excess, and then use your skewer or knitting needle to "crimp" the edge, just like you would use a fork to crimp a real pie crust

STEP 11: Brown the crust

Gather some pastel dust or, as in this case, real cinnamon on your soft brush and lightly dust the top of your crust, thinking about how a real pie crust browns (usually more near the edges and a bit in the center). You can use your fingers to smooth out the dusting if you want. (I wish I'd gone a little heavier with the browning on this pie in hindsight.)

STEP 12: Bake and enjoy!

Follow the clay manufacturer's instructions regarding temperature. Because of the small size and thinness of the clay, these will bake quickly - I give them 15 minutes. Allow to cool before using. And be sure to use the oven fan - probably not great to breathe polymer clay fumes on a regular basis.

Optional Extra Steps

You can dot a clay-strength glue on the top of the pie and attach a few strands of fiberfill as steam. (Use a toothpick to press them in place if you don't like glue-y fingers.)

If you've made a sliced pie, paint gloss medium or varnish over the apples at all the cut edges (don't forget the separate slice too). This will give it a realistic cooked appearance.

Bon Appetit! (Not really!)

My Creative Space - Week 2

BEFORE...

AND AFTER! WELL, DURING!

Crzylady at Home Grown Insanity who is apparently both organized and an organizer has given me lots of food for thought and inspiration for reorganizing my creative space. She has this great checklist, perfect for creative spaces, and a wonderfully gentle manner. I'm planning to post my progress weekly, along with a project or two that I can actually work on as I gain space and order - and a feeling of peace.

As you can see, I have a long way to go - but I'm taking the first "baby steps" as Flylady decrees. (Flylady, in case you aren't already familiar with her, has a free online organize-your-whole-life-even-your-body website that has been very helpful to me in general, though not one bit with this space...). I'm throwing stuff out as well as shifting some things to other places, and creating some better homes (and labels) for the stuff I keep.

I took Crzylady's advice to start by clearing one big space, both to give me working room and a sense of encouragement - and it has helped. I got my drawing table cleared off of most of the unnecessary junk, re-established my stations and cleared the floor enough around them that I can fit easily in and out of my chairs. Phew! And then I even started clearing out the shelves on the wall behind. Look! There's some empty space! (Probably won't stay that way for long - but I'll settle for order.)

Anyway, I got things tidy enough to get working on my Christmas card (that's what the little Christmas tree in the foreground goes to), to make good progress on the sketches of two picture books, and to nearly finish this gift I started making a while ago. SPOILER ALERT, MARY LOU - don't peek.

It's a drawstring knapsack for my walking buddy. On Saturday mornings we visit estate sales and then take our walk in the neighborhood around it. I'm making her a bag to tote her loot, and I've used all thrifted materials I've acquired at the sales. The main fabric is blue and white ticking from a vintage pillow cover, the calico lining (shows at the casing) was a vintage fabric I bought from a crafter's huge stash (it was really something - and it takes a lot to impress a hoarder like me), and the pocket on the front is from an embroidered hand towel. The bag also has a couple interior pockets. I used the excellent tutorial for a lined pack with interior pockets on Break It Down Design here - and, get this: I followed practically all the instructions. Maybe that's why it came out so well.... (Changes: I folded the lining to the front to make the casing for prettiness' sake, added an exterior pocket too of my own "design," and used grommets instead of button holes - partly because I can't remember where my button hole attachment is, partly because the fabric was too heavy for my little machine and would never have been able to manage them.) The tutorials are free, but she accepts donations, and I'll make one when I finish - the tutorial was really a big help.
Here's a close up of the tea towel pocket. I probably should have lined it.
I'm filling the bag with some other thrifted treasures - a small measuring tape, a notebook and pen for keeping wish lists and jotting measurements, etc., and an old tin I lined with felt and filled with some quarters and a few dollars (we're very cheap - but it's nice to have a little mad money for those things you absolutely don't need but really want). Any other suggestions of vintage-y things that would be useful?

Sorry my photos are crap today. Waited until it was dark to take them and the lighting is less than optimal at night.

Head on over to Kootoyoo to see all the other wonderful creative spaces, including hers. Thanks Kootoyoo!

What's Hot? What's Not? It's that Time Again!

I'm joining in again with the hot+not meme over at loobylu. Thanks, Claire!

HOT THIS WEEK

The Kindness of Strangers I swear the blogging community includes the nicest people. Special thanks to crzylady, a budding pro organizer at Home Grown Insanity who has given me some excellent, excellent guidance on whipping my creative space into shape (witness the first step of the transformation tomorrow through kootoyoo's My Creative Space meme)! I'm very excited to say the least. Thanks too to Chele at Happy Dacks who kindly taught me the correct pronunciation of whinging. What a fantastic word. To Gale at scribble prints, who gave me some much needed reassurance about my messy space. And to all the other bloggers participating in this meme - such great inspiration, laughs, and interesting thoughts to look forward to each week.

My New Old Apron

Picked up this lovely vintage apron at an estate sale on Saturday for two bucks. It was very stained, but thanks to the miracles of Oxi-Clean, it now looks pretty much good as new. Check out the sweet hand embroidery. I am swooning.

Apple Pie for Dinner

That apron reminded me of the zillions of little aprons I'd embroidered for Granny Smith in my latest book which in turn reminded me that I'd stumbled upon a new review of it this week. Saralynne said some very nice things about my artwork, so nice that she put me in the mood to make apple pie and actually serve it for dinner. The book includes a very tasty recipe, but I think I'm going to make my usual sour cream apple pie this time. I'll include the recipe I use at the end of the post. (I have to wait and make the pie on Friday - my hubby is out of town on business and gets back late that evening. I think hot pie and ice cream will make a nice welcome home, don't you? Maybe I'll wear my hot new apron too.)

Reading that good review also put me in the mood to go check my amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com rankings. (I have been relieved to come out of the closet on this and learn I'm not the only author/illustrator who does this obsessively.) They were still disappointing. Rats. SoI consoled myself by reading all the other good reviews the book has gotten (which the Barnes and Noble site has in their entirety here, or which you can read at the website the author created for the book here).

Oh, I also found a really interesting interview with the author, Susan VanHecke, here. What a fascinating life (and family) she's had.

Fooling Around with the Camera on my Phone

I took a bunch of pix of weird reflections this week. They have a creepy surreal feeling I think. The one above is of my husband and various plants reflected in our new backyard pond.

This one is of my hand and some furniture in my husband's office, as reflected in his window with a view of the construction of the new subway tunnel that will go under the Allegheny River. (I was waiting almost patiently while Steve finished up some work.)

This one's my favorite. It's of the stained glass inside a mausoleum, with reflections of the grounds (and the top of my head) at Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh. My friend and I walked there on Sunday - so beautiful and interesting, but of course I forgot my real camera. I love how the reflections pick up the colors of the stained glass and I like the ghostly feel.

NOT HOT

Going to my first Steelers game ever and having them lose

To the Bengals, no less, who are usually lousy, but are now in first place over my beloved team. Plus now everyone I know says I am never, ever allowed to go to another game since I am obviously bad luck.

Really, that's mostly okay. It was fun (and very loud) - but I think there's a lot to be said for watching sports from the comfort of my family room. Including a bathroom nearby and commentary for those of us who need a little explanation some times.

Steelers Nation, baby!

The Lost Tutorial

See those cute little pies in their bottle cap pie pans? And the teeny-tiny apples? I had a nice tutorial almost finished on how to make them. Guess where it is? On my computer that died. And guess if I just remembered that when I went to finish it up and post it? Poop.

Whinging about Whinging Or more specifically about my use of the term, which has been perhaps a tad liberal since I learned how to pronounce it. But you don't see ME whinging about that, just my daughter. WHO STILL HASN'T FINISHED HER COLLEGE APPLICATIONS. Not that I'm feeling hysterical about it.

Recipe for Sour Cream Apple Pie

Which is Hot, Not Not

(But It's Good Served Cold Too - Just Better Hot)

This is basically the recipe from my well-worn copy of The Silver Palate Cookbook (by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, Workman, 1979). Because I am NEVER able to follow directions precisely, I have made a few small changes, and I also just use the Pillsbury prepared pie crusts because I am much too lazy to make one from scratch.

This pie has been a group project at my house for years and years. Every summer, one of my Ohio nephews would come stay for a week and he, my kids, and my Pittsburgh niece would make it using a zillion of the tiny, very tart apples from the tree in our backyard (or if it was a no apple year, with Granny Smiths). This summer, that nephew's little brother came instead - here he is making it with my daughter.

Anyway, when I got the manuscript for Apple Pie I laughed and thought, "How perfect!" This reaction blinded me to the fact that there were a million characters (well, 13 humans and a bunch of animals), people (which I'd never done for a book), and very detailed backgrounds (which take me forever). Fortunately I did not go utterly insane, just nearly so.

But I still love apple pie.

Invite a few young friends to bake with you. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9 inch pie pan with a crust. Set another pie crust aside for the top. (I wait to preheat until after the apples are peeled and sliced, because that can take a long time with young helpers.)

For the Filling

6 Granny Smith apples OR one zillion little ones from the tree in the backyard, preferably ones with relatively few worm holes

2/3 cup sour cream (I use lite sour cream and it works perfectly)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp salt

1 generous tsp vanilla (the generous part is because the kids have always managed to spill it all over and now I'm just used to it on the vanilla-y side)

3 T flour

Peel, core and slice all the apples. Feed the peel to the dog and hope it doesn't give her diarrhea. Take a short break to plant some of the apple seeds (optional). Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl, giving everyone a chance with the whisk, and pour the mixture over the apples (which should be in a bigger bowl - important to specify this to young cooks). Toss well until all the apples are coated and the dog has had a chance to eat the ones that have sloshed out of the bowl and landed on the floor. Dump everything in the prepared pie pan.

For the Filling

3 T brown sugar

3 T granulated sugar

1 T flour (not in the original recipe - I added it because our pie is invariably over-filled and the extra flour seems to keep the topping from bubbling over onto the bottom of the oven and setting off the smoke detector. But you can leave it out if you prefer.)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped or ground

Combine all these ingredients and sprinkle the topping over the apple mixture.

Make a lattice top crust, if you already know how or can follow my confusing directions. First cut the remaining pie crust into long thin strips. Lay half the strips across the top of the pie in parallel strips, leaving an equal distance between strips (put the longest strip in the middle and the work outward). Fold half the strips back in a line along the middle and lay one of the remaining strips across the middle of the pie. Then put those strips back flat and fold the others back, laying another strip across. Continue until the whole thing is covered in a pretty woven pattern. Crimp the edges lightly. Pop the pie in the oven and take the dog out potty.

Bake for 55-65 minutes, until the pie is bubbly, the apples tender, and the kitchen smells like cinnamon.

Serve generous slices with vanilla ice cream. Eat every last crumb.

Turkey Meatloaf Recipe: Looks Like Dog Barf, but Tastes Great

Sunday evening suppers tend toward comfort food at my house - a little something to soothe the disappointment that the lovely weekend is drawing to a close and to provide a boost as everyone heads off to cram in the last of homework and work prep for the week ahead.

This week's menu was turkey meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes and tossed salad with blackberries and cashews -- and a bowl of canned soup for my teenaged daughter who declared herself unwilling to choke down even a bite of what looks to her like dog barf. She has held this opinion for many years now -- but this Sunday marked an important transition for her. She was persuaded to have a nibble, decided my meatloaf was perhaps better than dog barf or even canned soup, ate a whole slice and then had seconds. And has since been caught picking at the leftovers straight from the fridge.

So, while it's undeniable that this dish does resemble dog barf (which for the record, my dog would happily eat), I think we can all agree it must in fact taste much, much better. Which it does.

This is another one of those recipes that I make slightly differently, depending on the availability of ingredients and/or my mood. It's equally delicious served hot on a cold winter evening or cold in a sandwich on a hot summer afternoon. It's even good for breakfast, and apparently also tasty straight out of the Tupperware in the fridge for a bedtime snack. It's adapted from the turkey loaf recipe my wonderful former neighbor Eileen Edson used to make and from the classic meatloaf recipe in my ancient copy of the Better Homes and Garden cookbook.

The measurements below are the American-style ones, but I just found this great website that tells you how to convert the measurements, depending on where you live. If I have time tomorrow I'll have a go at a metric/celsius version.

Turkey Meatloaf

For the loaf:

1 or 2 eggs, lightly beaten (depends on how gooey you like it)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats OR bread crumbs OR cooked rice OR other filler kind of stuff

2-3 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup catsup (can vary to taste)

1 onion, grated

2-3 ribs celery, finely chopped

2-3 carrots, shredded

Or whatever combo of veggies you have in your fridge and like

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning or some sage or whatever seasonings you prefer

1 pound ground turkey (I normally use the extra lean ground turkey breast, but you can really use any ground meat, including combos of different ones)

For the topping:

1/4 cup catsup

2 T brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients for the loaf EXCEPT the ground turkey in a large bowl. Lightly mix in the turkey (if you over-stir it, it gets tough). Spray a loaf pan with Pam, then dump the dog barf, I mean meat mixture, into the pan and pat it smooth.

Mix the extra catsup and sugar in an old coffee mug and smooth it over the top.

Pop the pan in the oven uncovered and bake for 1 hour and fifteen minutes (at 350 degrees F).

It is tricky to get slices out of the pan in one piece. On occasions when I have guests who don't mind an entree that looks like dog barf cut in slices, I'll line the pan with baking parchment before I put the mixture in. Then I'll let the loaf sit for 15 minutes after cooking and lift it out using the parchment paper. It will then slice rather neatly. (But this is too much bother for ordinary family meals, especially given the usual rejection of it, however it looks.)

The only problem with my daughter learning to like this is that there will now be much less left over for my lunches. And that's bad, because this is insanely good in a sandwich on homemade Swedish sour rye bread - which you can find my favorite recipe for here.

I'm drooling already and will have to go hide the last couple meatloaf slices and get up early tomorrow to bake bread.

My Creative Space - HELP!

I'm joining in for the first time with the meme "My Creative Space" over at Kootoyoo's fun blog - you can check out all the other cool spaces and projects for this week here. Pictured above is one of my projects for this week, a button necklace that's a belated birthday gift for a good friend. (My first attempt was a disaster. This one is not going much better. Just a few tips - if you're going to make someone a crocheted button necklace, it is probably good to know how to crochet already. And to follow the directions. And to have the right size crochet hook.) This project is on my kitchen table because, as anyone who read yesterday's post will know, my studio is a disorganized disaster.

So I'm pleading for some ideas. I got these great books out of the library - and they do have sound strategies and photos of some truly gorgeous work spaces - but I am sufficiently organizationally impaired, and my space is small and odd enough, and my stuff varied and uh, numerous enough, that their ideas don't really work for me. I'm open to any suggestions, except to throw everything out and start over. (But pare down...that I'll probably have to live with.)

Here's a tour of my studio, which is in a big landing area at the top of the steps to our second floor. It has some charming features, like knee walls and a little alcove-y thing, but it's pretty small, has low ceilings, the original dark wallpaper, tiny windows and generally poor lighting, and it's rather "public" since anyone going to one of the bedrooms or upstairs bathrooms has to pass through it. Which means, my husband thinks, that it would be better if it didn't always look like the aftermath of a major earthquake or Category 5 hurricane. He may have a point.

This is my drawing table, which is pretty large. I never use the tilt function, so I probably don't really need something this nice, but it is in good shape and I already own it. I usually have it set up with "stations." The near edge is for cutting (mat, blades, etc.). The edge along the right has, sometimes, space for working with polymer clay (including my oft-used pasta machine). (The stairs are just out of the photo on the right, and it does make me a bit nervous to sit along that side, with my back to the steep staircase.) The far edge is my sewing area, with my trusty vintage Singer Featherweight (hand-me-down from my mom). The sitting space is a bit tight, but it does more or less work. And the side on the left is for drawing, gluing and whatever else needs to be done. There is not supposed to be so much stuff piled all over the desk, but there always is.

Behind the drawing table along the far wall, there is lots of storage-y stuff - some narrow shelves, a 2-drawer file cabinet, a small chest of drawers, an old glass-fronted kitchen cabinet with tool drawer things on it, and thread racks. Across from that, forming a hallway to the bedrooms is a large flat file. It has a great melamine top that my husband made for it and could be a good extra workspace, if I ever managed to keep it clear. I store large pieces of foamcore and some finished stuff vertically between it and the stair railing.

This is the view in the opposite direction. I have bookshelves and an old card catalog with tons of little items in it to the left (which is a narrow space leading to the door to my daughter's bedroom. I would feel sorry for her having to navigate through all my crap except: a) she has just as much crap in her room, b) she uses my studio herself all the time, and c) she's often responsible for lots of the mess in my studio too.)

I love the little alcove/dormer area, but feel like I'm not making good use of it. There's a cabinet where I store things like stuffing and batting and various odds and ends. On top I have a light table thing, which I rarely use anymore and could probably get rid of or at least store out of the way. I'd love ideas for how to make this area either more attractive or useful. Or, and this would be really cool, both.

On the right is an old IKEA piece of "little drawers." They are mostly filled with crap and badly need to be purged and reorganized. On top are my homemade trays for when I'm working on a book - there are 34 of them, one for each page in the book plus the covers. They were an ingenious (I think) solution for my weird needs - they keep all the little odds and ends for each page corralled and unsquished until I glue them in place and even give me a space to lay out each page on top of a photocopy of the sketch so I can make sure things are going along well. I'd like to have smaller stacks of them - it's tricky grabbing a tray from the bottom of one when I'm working - but on the whole it's one of the better organizational strategies I've used.

Finally, a view of the third wall. I have a large old IKEA unit that used to be in our family room for the TV and whatnot. It is in desperate need of sorting and organizing. It holds various reference books for drawing and techniques that I use often, as well as the "Bible" notebook I create for each book I'm currently working on, fabric, paper, old "stuff" I quickly hide during pre-houseguest clean-up frenzies, and most of my polymer clay stash.

Not shown is where I have all the artwork from the books I've done. I've given away a lot of it, but I still have enough that it's quite frankly overwhelming. It's all stacked in the bedroom of one of my kids who's off at college. I'm praying he doesn't want to move back home for a while after he graduates; there's not really much space left for him. (Legally, I can't really sell or give away my work anymore, thanks to the stupid CPSIA law - it almost certainly wouldn't pass the tests for lead and phthalates, plus the testing would destroy it. I think it's okay to sell or give it to adult-only households or art/kids' books collections, since it could then be classified as a collectible, but I'm not exactly famous enough to attract much interest from those markets yet.)

This is my mish-mosh inspiration bulletin board. I haven't updated it in many, many years. Bad me. But check out this unbelievably cool (and unused feature). You lift off the bulletin board and...

Ta-da! There's a hidey-hole, complete with a safe from the days when this was my middle son's "bedroom" (he got a real bedroom when he reached adolescence, but it's still kind of embarrassing that we made him sleep on the landing for years). I do not know the combo for the safe, but I bet I could jimmie it open. Wonder what's inside?

I have various little cool storage thingies that I don't make good use of. The little drawers above are from my 70s teen years and now contain 1 needle threaded with white thread, 2 gold paper leaves, and a handful of picture hangers. The shopping cart usually holds spare postcards, business cards, flyers, etc. that I take with me to book events.
The little drawers have stuff like buttons, but mostly my buttons are in jars. The locker used to hold my spare x-acto blades and a tin of used ones, but now it's pretty much empty. It looks like a real locker inside with a high shelf, a low shelf and a biggish middle area with hooks on the sides. Any ideas for making better use of these?

After you guys help me with this, I'll get your assistance with my desk area downstairs. (See it below.) Yikes.

What's Hot + What's Not

Dangy blangy. I meant to start back posting at least several times a week, and here it's been a whole week again.

I'm joining in again with Loobylu's hot+not meme because it is easy and fun. I urge you to go to her site and check out the blogs of all the participants - there are some very inspiring (and funny) postings out there - and to join in yourself. I've also discovered lots of new blogs to follow, which is a good thing given the not-hot thing that happened to my computer last week.

HOT

Leaf Art I decided to make a new banner for my blog that's appropriately seasonal for the northern hemisphere -- for another week or two anyway... Someday I'm going to do that stuff in a timely fashion, right?

The papercut leaves in my banner are incredibly easy to make, though a bit time consuming if you're foolish enough to choose leaves like these Japanese maple ones that have little toothy edges. Don't even try that super lacy one I show in the photocopy unless you're a glutton for punishment. Anyway, here's how:

1. Collect leaves with interesting shapes and press them (to make instant pressed leaves, iron them on low heat between a couple layers of paper towels).
2. Photocopy your favorites.
3. Cut loosely around the shapes (see above).
4. Use a repositionable glue stick to attach the cut-out shape to the wrong side of a piece of paper. I used some of the beautiful rice papers from my stash (the ones I tend to save in perpetuity because they're too beautiful to use).
5. You can use an embossing tool to go over the veins (these should be reasonably clear on your photocopy). The resulting texture is subtle on these soft rice papers, but I can see it, if the light's right.
6. Cut around the photocopied image. I used an x-acto knife, taking care to go through both layers of paper, but embroidery or decoupage scissors would work too.
7. Peel off the backing. Only don't wait weeks to do so like I did because then the repositionable glue stops wanting to be repositioned/removed. Though that seems to be okay too.

These make nice greeting cards and they look great framed as seasonal art - a good hostess gift.

Or, you can do something even easier that looks really elegant (my photos don't do these justice). I just painted these pressed gingko leaves with gold leaf paint. Thicker, sturdier leaves work best. The gilded leaves look dramatic glued to black paper or fabric and displayed in a vintage gold metal frame. (I find the frames, with little embossed designs, all the time at estate sales for almost nothing.) Or scatter a few on a dark tablecloth around an autumn centerpiece.

Creative Inspiration

Thanks to the SCBWI conference I attended last weekend here in Pittsburgh, PA. Not only did we get some good swag (the nice tote bag shown above, with an image by local illustrator Leda Miller), but Bruce Coville was everything I hoped for and then some - go check out his website which is funny and interesting. His keynote address was encouraging, uplifting, motivating - and hysterically funny. The main points I took away are:

1. Hard work and persistence are the main keys to success. Plenty of talented people never succeed because they never put in the time and/or effort to learn the craft of writing or illustrating, or because they give up too soon when they meet initial rejection. I've certainly found this to be true - it took me five years to get my first manuscript accepted and more than 10 to get offered a book to illustrate - and meanwhile, plenty of aspiring writers and illustrators with more natural ability than I have have fallen away.
2. The 7 Deadly Sins for Writers are: Dullness, Repetition, Cliche, Sloth, Inattention, Perfectionism, and Clumsiness.
3. The 7 Virtues for Writers are: Passion, Sensuousness, Wisdom, Guile, Humor, Courage, and Joy. Of these great virtues, the greatest three are humor, courage and joy, the last of which is the birthright of all children.

It's impossible not to feel inspired to sit down at my keyboard and drawing table (aka the kitchen table) after that - and to top it off, all the other speakers were interesting and informative. Probably best of all was reuniting with some of the most talented, creative, hardworking and kind people I know. I feel all "popcorn brainy" now, as my friend Kitty Griffin puts it.

Chalkboard Paint and Chalkboard Markers

I can see where it might be possible to go a little overboard with these. A lot of the woodwork in my house has secretly become writing surfaces in the last week.

The colors and variety of line you get with these chalkboard markers make them way cooler than ordinary chalk, not that I don't like it too. (They can be a little stubborn about coming off, despite the manufacturer's promise that they are easily erased with warm water - but they do come off with a little elbow grease and/or Clorox Clean Up.)

Claire's Nice Comments

Incredibly kind of Loobylu to visit everyone's blogs and comment. I'm going to try to be equally thoughtful this week. (Okay, and I was blown away when she called my art hot, since I think hers is flaming.)

NOT

My Creative Space

Which is disorganized. Cluttered. Messy. And impossible to work in, which is especially frustrating now that I'm brimming with creative urges. Thank goodness we had a houseguest all last week, so I kept my fall-back workspace (the kitchen table) pretty much cleared off.

You know the saddest thing? The photo above is the after picture - I actually purged and tidied it before the company came, and that's all the better it ended up. And now all my closets are overflowing with junk I swear I'm going to sort through, but probably won't until I'm desperately searching for something I need to finish a project.

The Kitchen Computer

I'm actually very lucky - our household has gobs of computers I can use, so even though the kitchen one is dead, as in it won't even think about turning on, I can still get my work done. But the kitchen computer is where I kept my calendar, so I now feel adrift and anxious. (I've tried to back it up in the past, but I can never get the backups to open so I finally gave up. I know; I need a new system.) And it's where all my bookmarked blogs are (I know, I should just subscribe to my favorites, but I haven't.)

And it's where I had the last couple chapters of my novel, which I (I know, stupid-head, stupid-head) hadn't backed up. My husband thinks the problem is a dead motherboard and that we'll be able to rescue the hard drive and get all my data back - and I'm praying he's right. If not, well, what's a little more hard work, right?

A Nameless Teenager Who Must Be Nagged Endlessly to Finish Her College Applictions

Fortunately I have these good chalkboard markers and door panels coated with chalkboard paint to help out in the nagging department.

I do love that Douglas Adams quote (he's the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and many other excellent books).

Leaves

There is no pleasing me. This week I'm whinging about the ones that are smothering my yard or still clinging to the oak trees so that raking will never end.

And I'm moping about all the beautiful ones that are GONE or nearly so. (I'm trying hard to heed Claire's advice to just concentrate on enjoying the colors. She's right, of course - the colors were downright spectacular this year.)

By the way, about that word "whinge"? It's a new one for me that I keep seeing on Australian and English blogs and I would like to start using it. Specifically I would like to tell my teenager, "Quit whinging about your applications and just finish them!" But I don't know how to pronounce it - is it WIN-jing or WHINE-jing? Or something else?

Have a great week, everyone. (Though I am planning/hoping to post more often than weekly.)

What's Hot + What's Not

I love playing along with this theme with loobylu. Be sure to visit her site and see all the other bloggers participating - lots of inspiring and pleasing things to check out.

Hot

Squash and Squash Players

My husband is in charge of a squash (the sport, not the vegetable - though that could be interesting too) tournament in Pittsburgh this week, so it is all squash all the time for our family this week. And of course my husband is hot. And we're also hosting a very nice young player from France - a bonus for those of us who enjoy a cute French accent and a chance to try to remember our high school French. It's also making me want to plan a trip to France again soon.

Leaves

The reds are looking a bit faded after a couple of freezes, but the yellows and golds are still breathtaking. I've been pressing leaves like mad this year, and even doing the iron them between sheets of waxed paper and hang them in the window thing. I've decided I'm just going to go back to doing all my little kid crafts that I love right now and not wait for grandkids to give me an excuse to indulge in them again, because that will likely be a long wait still (well, I hope so on the whole at least).

The Western Pennsylvania Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Fall Conference

It's coming up this weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends like Marc Harshman, who's working on a book project with me (and my daughter Sara) involving this bear, who is still in the development phase, and possibly a chipmunk too.

The keynote speaker this year is Bruce Coville, and I can't wait to hear him in person. I've heard and read interviews where he consistently comes across as funny, smart, talented, inspirational - and best of all, just plain nice. I have high expectations.

If you are interested in writing or illustrating for kids and don't already know about SCBWI, you should definitely check out their website and consider joining. They have lots of useful info, especially for newcomers, and they're beginning to offer more and more for experienced people in the field too. It's a great way to meet people too - and like gardeners, kids' book people are nearly uniformly generous, interesting folks.

Unfortunately some good friends won't make the conference this year, having had the gall to move away and have busy lives (just kidding - but I do miss all of them.) This includes my dear friend Julie Stiegemeyer, with whom I have TWO new projects in the works with these characters: The Little Red Monster and Benny.

NOT

Leaves

I do not understand how my yard and pond can be completely covered already again right after I raked a zillion leaves two days ago. Nor do I understand how there can still be so many left on my oaks, most of which don't even appear to have changed.

The weather. The dark.

Geez, it's cold! 28 F (like -2 C) this morning. And SNOW in the forecast for tomorrow. It is much too soon for winter. And daylight savings time ended last weekend so now it is dark, dark, dark when I go on my walks with my friend Mary Lou in the evening, and there are still only the first glimmers of light when I have to get up in the morning - not enough help as far as I'm concerned to be worth the end of day light.

How many plants I have yet to get in the ground

We have been too insanely busy this fall on the weekends, what with traveling and frantically trying to clean my house for visitors, so planting has not been happening. But lots of plant buying did, so this Sunday, snow or no snow, visitors or no visitors, I MUST plant.

NaNoWriMo

Swore I was going to do it this year. Have. Not. Written. One. New. Word. on my novel. Poop.