I've actually got about half a trash bag full of the balls from hurricane Ike, I like them for casting because they got knocked down green, before they opened up when the seeds got ripe, so they turn to a tighter pattern and seem to have less of a tendency to pop out flecks of resin from the pockets. As for the trees, I've got tons of them around here. Most aren't worth bringing into the yard to burn. If you catch cut pieces that have been on the ground just the right time, you can get really cool spalting and colors, but a little too early and they are bland as wallpaper paste, and too late, and it's punky and too soft to turn without using a ton of CA.
I do have one big chunk of sweetgum trunk about 20 inches in diameter that I'm saving to do something with. It's from the tree that landed on top of my shop back in '09 and did about $14,000 worth of damage to the roof and frame (according to the insurance adjuster anyway) Good thing I can frame myself, and know some roofers that work cheap. I figure any tree that makes me almost 10k in cash profit deserves to be made into something, plain looking or not!