Four of a Kind April Edition- French Country

See all those roosters?  That is just a very small sample of my rooster and hen collection.  It started 15 years ago when we bought our house and I found a really pretty valance to hang in the dining room.

Here is the valance that started this "Rooster" madness.

I loved those roosters the minute I saw them.  Once I started collecting, everyone I know gave me something to do with roosters and chickens for every gift-giving occasion there was.  My china cabinet is packed.  We eventually got wood shutters in the dining room and no longer have the valance up, but I couldn't get rid of it and have saved it for quite a few years now. 

Then Waltzingmouse stamps released a stamp set that brought back all those great rooster memories. It's called French Country and there are several rooster images, both small and large.   This month, Renee Lynch is our Four of a Kind hostess and did I scream when I opened up my package.  Inside was just about the  most beautiful stamps, diecuts and patterned papers all from Waltzingmouse French Country.  Check out the kit Renee sent us:

Photo courtesy of Renee Lynch

I have been on vacation for a large part of the month, so I only got the chance to make 3 cards for today and one more I will be sharing tomorrow for the Waltzingmouse Blog Party, but I loved working with this stamp set.  Here is my first card:

Can you believe I cut up one of the valance panels that started my collecting craze?  I ironed on some fusable material to add some stiffness to the fabric and carfully cut it out with some very sharp scissors.  I used a glue stick to adhere it to the chickenwire stamped panel and embossed the Thanks sentiment in black embossing powder.  In person, the woven texture of the roosters is really pretty.

My second card uses some of the really pretty patterned paper Renee included in our kit.

Don't you love that background pattern stamp?  It looks so nice stamped in the black ink and when you add the yellow gingham paper, so country-looking.  I added the red/white gingham ribbon that our package was tied up with and you didn't think I could make a 4 of a Kind project without using one of the window dies, did you?  I perched my red rooster on a yellow fence and added a little cloud lined with a gray copic marker. It really makes it pop against the blue background. I added a couple of the stick pins that Renee sent and used the sweet Good Morning sentiment.  I can totally picture a rooster crowing outside a country window. 

My last card is my favorite.

This card uses the extra large border stamp in French Country.  Renee sent us both a black and a red image.  I layered the black image onto a black border and some black/white gingham paper.  I added a filagree border diecut on the bottom.  I think that particular border adds a really elegant look to my card.  The sentiment is stamped on a Spellbinder Label and the small rooster is cut out and popped up on the label.  Told you I loved roosters.

Here's all my cards together:

I loved this month's kit, Renee could not have picked a better stamp set for us to use.  I had a great time using Waltzingmouse French Country.

Make sure you check out Renee, Joyce and Kim's blog to see what they did with our April Kit.

Renee

Joyce

Kim