DJK’s Fantasy World has a nice three part series on how to build model houses from coffee stirring sticks.
modeling
Advice on Basing Your Figures
Legio Wargames has a tutorial on basing your figures with wood filler, sand and other bits.
Making Hedgerows
This Very Blog has a very good set of instructions for building hedgerows for 25mm – 28mm figures. This is the best set of instructions I have found, and the one I will use for my Normandy terrain.