A Bird House and Painted Paper for Grape Leaves

The apple basket has been aged and given a handle; the "wooden grip" is rolled paper, with some 20 gauge galvanized wire for the handle. My stash turned up a nice rusty watering can, which should also feel at home in this setting. The strawberry jar may get strawberries, just have to see if I can make polymer clay into convincing strawberries of the ever-bearing variety, the only ones that would still be around in the autumn. Otherwise, it may just have strawberry leaves starting to go red at their edges, and perhaps some runners.

The wood and burlap wall pocket might work for a door ornament, I'll have to see. Made in 2020 at the height of Covid, it does seem a good fit for the scene, and would look nice with a couple of leafy branches, berry branches and sunflowers. And finally, a bird house that is more in scale with the scene; it's a 1/2" (13 mm) square section of dowel, trimmed to make the roof peak, with a piece of moss ribbon for the roofing, and an end of painted wire for the perch. I aged the moss a little with some dry brushing in orange, as it was very summery green.

I've painted some paper for the autumnal  grape vine leaves; this is a nice variety, and I can add some red to some of the punched leaves, or some green for deep veining, using a sharp colouring pencils. The "fancy" leaves will, naturally, be the more visible ones at the front of the scene. I'll start punching this evening, while watching TV, and begin with 25 of each size and colour....

Now I'm going to attempt a bushel basket made of card stock for the potatoes, complete with little wire handles. And I'd also like to try plant pots made of cardboard, as my stock of resin and wooden pots is getting more than a little low. It's coming along!