Two words....dollar store.

In my specific case, Dollartree.

Sometimes, your local dollar store will carry foamcore. Not the good blackcore stuff, but the much-cheaper-than-normal price of $1.00 per sheet. Well worth investegating and taking advantage of.

So visit your local dollar store...check and see. It could save you a bunch.

Keep an eye on Michaels too, I picked up 4 sheets at $.99 each on sale last week (the plain white stuff sadly) been making up some KaneLinx style tiles for my little brother.

Acutally, I just noticed that my local super target has blackcore foamcore for under $2 per sheet....

Next time I have to stock up, I'll be going there.

My ninja secret to getting foamcore? I'm a teacher- students often build poster projects on foam core. After I grade them, I tell them to take their stuff home or I'll dispose of it. I've gotten 5 or 6 30"+ pieces of foamcore for free this year alone, and 2 pieces of the black foam core too. For really nice models that I intend to use over and over, maybe I'll splurge and buy new, but for simply doing ground tiles or smaller/limited use models, free is a hard price to beat. If you have any teacher friends, they likely are like me and used to throw out tons of the stuff every year. Maybe you could help them recycle

Dollar Store was where I used to get my foam core. 2 for $100. Not nearly as good as Elmers but enough to get you by. After moving to England I found it impossible to get my foam core cheap enough so switched to PCV board. Great stuff and twice as tough.

I bought one of those latterns and a bunch of trees and bushes last year. But they were a gift for someone, so I never did see how the lattern worked.

I'm keeping an eye for them this year. But I'm thinking about taking them apart to put working lights inside my builds.

It occurs to me that I could take one of the mini battery operated candles lights for inside decorations and put that under a build so it sticks up through the fire place. A nice flickering flame light for the fantasy sets.