Gnomes' Stump House Carved from Styrofoam

I started a collection of gnomes for my front garden a few years ago. You know how it is when you buy 2 or 3 of something just because you liked them, and then you find yourself buying more because they're just so cute, or pretty, or great or interesting looking. Well, I started finding gnomes that I really, really liked, and just kept buying them. At one point I thought it might be nice to add a stump house to my garden. I mentioned to my husband that there were a couple of fat logs out back that would make nice houses if only he'd drag one out for me to work on. He said fine, but never got around to it.

Eventually I started wondering if I could just make my own tree stump out of styrofoam. I'd made a stump house before, called the Nuthouse, by covering a tower dollhouse with styrofoam and a paper mache clay called Celluclay.  That was however, an indoor tree stump house. I found someone selling larger styrofoam blocks on ebay and ordered one so I could make one that could sit outdoors.
This is the finished stump.

I placed a planter of silk ivy on top as it was early in the spring and nothing was growing outside yet.

I started by cutting the rectangular block into a round shape, then I took another piece of styrofoam to carve out a root which I glued to the stump. I used Weldbond glue for this and hoped it would stay in place even though it would be outside all summer. It held.

Next came carving the lump of styrofoam into bark. Years ago, when our oldest boy was 14, we gave him a woodburning set for Christmas. After he lost interest in it I put it away, and tada! some 28 years later I found a use for it. Yes, friends and neighbors, I carved the bark with a woodburning tool.

I painted the bark using several shades of watered down browns, applying them in washes, blending them while still wet. It took several coats, as each layer dried bits of white would show and I'd cover each section with more paint. Applying shades of color in washes gives you a more realistic effect in the end, rather than just flat out painting.

I made one mistake, which was not going out to buy some marine grade glue that  would stand up to rain for attaching the balcony and little porch. I figured I'd take my chances with the Weldbond, which did last outdoors for several months. Eventually, however, part of the balcony fell down during a heavy rainstorm, and some of the little planks that formed the porch roof came unglued too.

It's alright, though. I have the pieces, and I just bought some Gorilla Glue and a low heat glue gun. One or the other should do the trick and get my stump house through another summer.