Most of the process of making an apple pie is pretty standard and consists of the recipe and following directions. There is some creativity involved in baking though. If you don't have quite enough apples, you could add in other ingredients to make up for it (or just make a smaller pie). You could add some pecans or substitute chocolate for cinnamon (not sure how that would turn out though...). But the most obvious vector for infusing creativity would probably be in designing the crust.

By using cookie-cutters or a knife, you can take holes into your pie crust. (Note: if your crust is thin, your design can warp a little). To make raised designs, cut out designs from leftover dough and work them into the top crust. Of course, if a knife and cookie-cutter aren't good enough for you, you could always use a CO² laser like the picture on the right.

 

The most common pie crust design is probably a lattice top. To make a lattice top, lay down all the strips going in one direction first, then pull back every other strip and put one going across the others. Lay those back down over the one going across, lift the others, and put another crosswise strip. Keep alternating until you've gone all the way across the pie.