Most of my smaller dioramas are built on shelves that can be moved around easily on the wall (using pegboard and brackets). In this case, the entire shelf was painted a pale, sickly green color to simulate stagnant water. About half of the shelf was then sprayed with a textured adhesive to simulate earth. The adhesive was spray-painted brown The green scrub plants are actually lichen that I bought nearly 10 years ago at a model railroad shop. They were attached while the painted adhesive was still wet, so they stay put nicely. The cabin itself is made entirely of foamboard. I cut the pieces out with an X-acto knife and then assembled them using hot glue. Afterward, we glued craft sticks to the outside. I cut the rounded ends off and Kate did all of the gluing. 
The porch and the pier were made the exact same way. The entire cabin, porch and pier were all spray-painted dark brown. Once they were dry, Kate dry-brushed them with a very light tan. The roof was made from a piece of poster board. We cut it to the right shape and then folded it like an accordian to get it to look somewhat corrugated. The roof was painted to resemble unpainted metal. The "rust" was applied using a foam paint applicator. The background is fishtank scenery we picked up at a local pet store. The barrels were purchased a few years ago at a hobby store and have been kicking around in my parts box. The two fuel drums that Zarana is sitting on were part of a military playset that I owned when I was a kid. The Doom Cycle is obvious, but the other motorcycle was made by Maisto (you can find them at WalMart). If you look hard, you can see two pieces of 1/18 scale dollhouse furniture inside the cabin.We still have some additional figures to add (once we've made them, that is) and a few things we want to tweak down the road (there's a reason that we included water and a pier), so watch for updates!
