In our old house there was a huge stump of an old oak tree that was struck by lighting. Instead of paying to have it removed we added a tree face to it. We got tons of compliments and the kids loved it. They named him "Oakley." Definitely a fun way to go when you'd like to change an eyesore into a focal point. Here's a helpful article on them: Tree Faces: The Easiest Way To Add Personality To Your Yard. At the time we also considered using it as a base for a garden statue but we just couldn't find a statue that we thought would work. Maybe if the stump had been shorter we would've added a funny gnome or something.