Boxes, Barrels and Bushes

I've taken a break from the Stoetzel's Federal building build, suffice to say I could have added boobs to the already salacious sounding title (just think of the hits!).
Now that I have three each of the pirate ship's boxes and barrels, I'd have a quick attempt at tarting them up..
Undercoated with a matt grey from Poundlandbargainworld (and yes I forgot to wash the soft plastic first) then various browns and sandy colours later I came up with what you see in the photograph, although I have picked out the rope around the barrels since taking the photo.
As a reminder, here's how they look straight from the box:

The barrels in their original form...

And a couple of photographs of how they painted up:
One of the most obvious things to me (other then the cheapness of the models themselves, is the lack of barrel hoops - something I could probably rectify if I could be bothered (I'm not)

Barrels sans rope painting

...and the boxes (obviously)

Also this week Boxes painted up

Also this week in a visit to my favourite shop "Poundlandworldbargainbuy", I came across this little ball of wargaming goodness:

A £1 ball of foliage - with purply-blue bits!

The B&M ball

 By chance, I also stopped by my local B&M tore and in their sale they had a similar, but larger ball for the princely sum of £2.49.
I immediately went to work pulling all the individual bits from each ball.
There are about 40 'plants' in the £1 ball and about 60 in half of the pricier one (but alas no purpley-blue bits!). 
 Each piece has four a leaf'-stems attached to a central ring (that in turn had been attached to a stud on the frame of the original ball.

Half the big ball's 'bits'

'Heart-shaped leaves'

In a further burst of greenery my last two packages of Chinese plasicky, shrubbery goodness also arrived this week.
Both packs are more or less the same, with minor differences .
One pack has "heart-shaped" leaves, whilst the other has more fan-shaped leaves.
There are 50 pieces (I think) in each pack and they were less the £2  (including postage) iirc.
As can be seen on the photographs, they're quite large (about the size of a 28mm figure) and have a 'stud' for basing.

Boring close up

Equally boring fan-shaped leafy bushes

Obligatory boring close up

Finally, you  may have noticed, in the background of the first photograph can be seen some bush-like material. This has resurfaced after many years due to building work affecting my outside shed. It's some form of bedding or potting material that I bought about 15 years ago to use a foliage for a twisted wire tree that never came to fruition  (hence the staining). It has the consistency of coarse string (what I would refer to as "Post Office parcel string) and I've an idea or two as to what uses I can make of it (other than the obvious one of thatching) - so watch this space.!

I won't be telling you of the boob I made cutting out a foamboard wall with two printed walls hidden on the reverse side, so that's it then for this week and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.