To set my version of Over in the Meadow apart from the crowd, I thought I'd try digital photo-collages on the computer. To make the puzzle aspect of the digital illustrations more fun, I decided to use everyday objects that young children could easily recognize. That was easier said than done. Trying to figure out what items to use turned into a peculiar kind of treasure hunt as I poked through the fridge, rummaged through drawers and cupboards, and skulked down the aisles of the dollar store and Value Village (because I'm cheap), looking everywhere I went for inspiration. For a while I was a little weird, shrieking, "Bark!" at a dinner party when pecans appeared in a salad, and "Fish scales!" when a storeowner handed me change. Baby beavers were a particular stumper - until the morning I groggily missed the coffee filter with the spoon and there, staring up at me from the mess I'd made on the counter, was a brown-haired beaver in a pile of coffee grounds.