4:34 PM

A Beautiful March Day Spent "Working" in My Shed

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day even after some morning showers. I had decided earlier in the week to participate in a #Thursdaytrays "contest" on Instagram. I posted my entry this morning.

My plan was to use a new tray I had recently purchased from Homegoods. I had already used my other various trays many times on other projects so, it was time to try something new. As I was thinking about the design, I realized I needed some flowers. So, I ran out quickly to my local grocery store and hoped I could find something appropriate. How lucky was I when I found these beautiful anemones?! This store usually only has tulips, mums and roses...and the roses are usually not in the best of shape. But, as it turned out, these lovely anemones became the basis of my whole design. How can you go wrong with flowers like this?

Since it was a beautiful, warm day I thought taking the photo outside would work well. But, as is the case with so many things in life, it didn't turn out to work as well as I had hoped. The photos were dark and the trees behind made everything too busy.

As I was trying to decide where to go next, I remembered my lovely shed that had been taking a nap for the last two months since it has been so cold. "Maybe that would be a good place to take some pictures," I thought. Such a joy to be back out there again. It was very inviting, warm and cozy.

I found myself sitting on the stool looking out the window taking in the view of the pond across the street for a few minutes before starting my "photo shoot".

Since setting up the tray was quick work, my next job was to find "just the right spot" for the photo :).

I started with the work bench, set the tray on another woven tray and then placed it among my shelves and vase rack. I didn't really like the look. It wasn't the clean look I was going for, still too busy.

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So, I thought using the white, rustic walls of the shed as my background could work. I set the tray on the stool I had used earlier to take in the view and started taking pictures. I like the rustic stool top against the rustic shed walls.

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I think I should mention there is one thing that can happen with buying grocery store flowers--they might not be of the best quality. This flower came home with a busted stem but, I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and used it in the design anyway. I'm actually glad things worked out the way they did. I think the little broken-stemmed anemone looks like it was always meant to be in the photo. Lemonade out of lemons:).

These little books are from a very old set of Hans Christian Anderson books I haved owned since childhood. They were the perfect size for the tray. I covered them with brown mailing paper and tied them with twine. I was going for rustic style--one to match the style of the tray. An old set of glasses finished the look, or at least I hoped so.