I first read (or rather observed the cuteness) of these little pastries over at Bakerella this summer, then followed the strand back to Luxirare, where I saw the whole beautiful story unfold. I generally like small desserts that allow me to try multiple flavors. Think cookies–the perfect way to taste a dozen little desserts at once. I also like pie–a lot. Mr. T and I would have had pie at our wedding reception except there was no way we could decide on any single flavor. So we enjoyed four flavors of cupcakes instead–chocolate, red velvet, carrot cake, and lemon poppyseed. In retrospect, we could have had multiple pie flavors; I just would have insisted on eating at least four slices of pie.

This is all to say, I wish these pie pops had been discovered sooner! Because they’re the perfect opportunity to taste many a pie filling in one sitting. I followed Bakerella’s photo tutorial, with a few variations of my own: 1) I used Betty Crocker pie crust mix (add water and roll out) since I couldn’t find the pre-rolled dough at my grocery store. 2) Bakerella’s comment that hers came out too doughy (filling-to-crust-ratio was leaning too much toward the crust) inspired me to roll out my dough thinner–I actually got 15 pops out of dough I rolled out for a 9″ pie, and overstuffed the centers with filling. 3) Rather than using (or mixing up) traditional pie filling, I used my all-time favorite fruit spread, Spoon Fruit from American Spoon Foods. I used Cherry-Berry, Strawberry, Blueberry, and Sour Cherry–I particularly love these because they aren’t sweetened with sugar, just all real chunks of fruit. My grandmother, Maja, introduced them to me a dozen years ago and always sent me a gift box every Valentine’s Day. My mom has since taken over the tradition, so I had a cupboard full of jars to choose from. 4) I also made a couple of chocolate-hazelnut filled pops using Creme de Noisette by Pralus Master Chocolatier, a recent indulgence that’s proving to be habit-forming. Packaged in a squeeze tube, and easily mistaken for hair product if it wasn’t in a cupboard over the stove, it’s basically a gourmet Nutella made with all real ingredients–eating a bowl of Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream hasn’t been the same since I bought my first tube of this stuff.

The Pie Pops recipe has already been well-documented as I noted and linked above, so I’ve decide to offer an illustrated tutorial to complement all that’s come before. Enjoy.

1. Follow the directions on the pie crust mix to make a ball of dough.

2. Flour your work surface and roll out the dough about 1/8″ thick.

3. Use a round cookie cutter about 2 1/2″ in diameter to cut out an even number of dough discs. (Roll your dough scraps back into a ball and repeat steps 2 and 3 until all dough has been used.)

4. Arrange half of the discs on the cookie sheet and press a lollipop stick into each.

5. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons of Spoon Fruit or 1 teaspoon of Creme de Noisette into the center of each disc on the sheet.

6. One at a time, gently lay the dough discs that remain over the filling and the end of the pop stick. Pinch the ends closed by gently pressing with the tines of a fork.

7. Brush the tops with egg white and stick in the oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

8. Let cool and…eat! (And be sure to try every flavor.)

Also in the picture is a delicious-looking, not-made-from-a-T-shirt, cake. Though Megan would love to claim it as her own, the dessert is actually a DIY project her mom made to donate as a prize at their local Wednesday night BINGO game. Generous, and yum! Wouldn’t you love to be on the winning end of that dessert? When Megan saw how the cake turned out, she knew it would make the perfect prop to show off her newest handmade accessory.

I love this skirt because it’s like a scrapbook you can wear–the project in my book uses 6 different T-shirts (for 6 different panels), but in this video, Vanina made one with 3 panels…and it looks like she made another skirt with more panels! No matter how many tees you use, it’s fun to gather the memories and colors from your fabric stash and piece them into a new outfit for new adventures!

#77 “Heart on Your Sleeve”

(excerpted from Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt)

#2 “Brokenhearted”

(excerpted from Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt)

…And now this delightful find, below (which I was particularly inspired to post after the recent Craft: Tea Party in California): It’s Tee Tea, or should I say Tea-shirts. It’s a set of T-shirt shaped tea bags (tee bags) by Soon Mo Kang, complete with hangers (color-coded by flavor) and a closet to hang them in.

Have you come across any cool T-shirt references lately? Please share!

The base of Andra’s halter is the “Halt Right There” top, project #45 in Generation T, and baby’s drawstring bottoms are inspired by “Antsy Pants” pajama pants (project #57 in Generation T: Beyond Fashion). So comfy cozy…can you imagine a better use for that completely softened and well-worn T-shirt in the back of your closet?

Let’s not overlook that striped hat, which baby wore home from the hospital (inspired by “Top Knot” baby hat, #46 in GT:BF)–it was made from a larger shirt mama scored at a clothing swap from her friend Rebecca. That’s one crafty mama! (And one lucky kid!)

I stained most of my fingers before Pattie was nice enough to show me where the plastic gloves were!

Off to the Provo nook, where Kim was nice enough to teach a group of us how to make yarn flower clips using the Knifty Knitter…but of course I couldn’t resist pulling out a T-shirt scrap (below, from a T-shirt hem) and make a soft green jersey flower for my hair.  And then it was off to signing about 80 Generation T book giveaways at the Provo booth!

Then I climbed the stairs of the Provocraft stage for a Generation T T-shirt refashioning demo with scissors and the Yudu all-in-one screenprinting machine. (I just want to pounce on all those delicious-looking cakes behind me!) Then it’s off to sign 70 more book giveaways!

Sonya Nimri took to the Provocraft stage, too. She demonstrated how to make felt barrettes and leather jewelry and coasters using the Cuttlebug machine…I totally want one now. Then she signed giveaway copies of her new book, Beadalicious (which I totally scored!).

Some last wandering and making-and-taking and catching up with my pals Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza who were at the Plaid booth showing off their forthcoming Hot Glue Gun Helpers tool line. I can’t wait until these are out!

Plaid also showed off some of their new Simply Screen home screenprinting products–check out the totally sweet T-shirt I screened (stay tuned for a scissory refashion of the XL T-shirt in weeks to come!). And lastly, Sonya shows off her totally rockin’ trucker hat that she dyed with the new ilovetocreate graffiti fabric spray and stencils.

Off to dinner with friends and then a red-eye flight back home so I can wake up refreshed (who am I kidding?!) on the east coast!

Then it was on to the orange zone! I love me some sharp Fiskars scissors (and those orange Fiskateer uniforms!) and check out the make-and-take made with their squeeze punches and new stamping contraption (I made this paper pin for my niece, complete with the requisite “bling” and plenty of pink).

The Fiskateers were having fun with a green screen…dress-up anyone? It’s so inspiring to see how each company decorates their booth — and I love wandering around in a veritable wonderland of giant buttons, knitting needles, balls of yarn, scissors, and more!

A celebration of my two favorite tools: scissors and pencils.

Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo and Big-Ass Crafter Mark Montano take a nap — standing up! — in the ilovetocreate booth. It’s make-and-take Monday (and Tuesday, and Wednesday) and in addition to the paper brooch, I got to make two necklaces, one with hammered and antique-painted cardboard, and one with scrapped papers pressed between glass.

Relaxing with DIY superstars CRAFT’s Natalie Zee Drieu, Stitch ‘n Bitch’s Debbie Stoller, Beadalicious’s Sonya Nimri, and Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo. And then a walk outside to remind me that Anaheim, CA is not all a big convention center!

Natalie and CRAFT organized a lovely Crafty Tee Party this afternoon. You all know how I love a good Tee Party, but tea can be amazing too, especially after a long day walking around under fluorescent lights, and even more especially when it’s paired with little pastries and super crafty company. Clockwise around the table, Sonya Nimri, Vickie Howell, Sarah Hodsdon, Debbie Stoller, Kathy Cano-Murillo, me, Katie Dougherty-Kunde, Alexa Westerfield, and Pattie Donham Wilkinson. And, of course, Natalie, who was snapping this shot (which originally appeared online here)!

Next up, resting my feet. And resting up for Tuesday, when I’ll be taking the stage in the afternoon for some T-shirt slashing and Yudu screenprinting.

And you can bet that my Cricut cupcake party favor will be my breakfast tomorrow morning!

1) “Create” was the theme of the day! 2) First stop, Provocraft, where I’ll be doing my demos with the Yudu screenprinting machine on Tuesday. They’re unveiling a new Cricut Cake machine for decorating your baked goods! All edible crafting–yum. 3) And it’s hard not to spot Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo’s booth at Duncan’s ilovetocreate. Here’s me poking my head through the crafty chica cutout!

4) The Crafty Chica make-and-take of the day was a silk fan–using the super juicy markers from her new line, we decorated the plain white fans. 5) Representing the east coast, Craftster was there, with skull-and-craft tool T-shirts and… 6) helping folks make buttons and showing off the awesome wares that their community of crafters makes.

7) I made a machine embroidered drink cozy for my sister–not a lot of work, since the machine does it all for you, but the options are endless–you can upload your own fonts and designs on one of these things! 8 ) At the American Sewing Guild tables, I stitched up a drawstring bag for charity. 9) Then I headed over to check out Debbie Stoller, who was signing at the JoAnn booth, showing off her new line of Stitch Nation yarn! Congrats, Debbie!

10) Her yarns are so soft and all natural and…wait for it…affordable! The perfect thing to get my crochet on (learning crochet is my crafty New Year’s resolution). Luckily, Debbie has me covered on that front, too. 11) Then it was lunchtime, and who should I meet in line, but Sonya Nimri, crafty author and all around crafty lady extraordinaire. She in turn introduced me to Jenny Doh, who’s launching a new crafty hotspot, Crescendoh, in March–stay tuned! 12) After lunch, back over to the Provocraft stage where Sonya demonstrated some really easy and fun leather and felt jewelry techniques using the Cuttlebug machine (usually reserved for scrapbooking, but here’s an example of something being more than meets the eye–Sonya discovered that this paper cutter can cut leather very cleanly too!) Then she stuck around to give away signed copies of her new book, Beadalicious–you better believe I lined up to get one!

That’s all to report for now (I’m exhausted!), but stay tuned for a few more days of crafty fun and reporting from the CHA trade show.