Review: Cut & Create Paper Mosaics

For the holidays, my husband got my Cut & Create Paper Mosaics.  Doing these is pretty addictive and I only have 2 of the 8 projects in the book left!  The first four are labeled as easy because every piece is outlined for you (or you have to hole-punch it).  I worked through those fairly quickly and they turned out pretty nice.  All the paper is supplied in a velcro-closure envelope along with the thicker cardboard base.  There are outline shapes on the back of the paper for you to cut and each piece is numbered.  These correspond to outlined spaces on the carboard base.  I used ModPodge to do my gluing but most glues should work well.

The next two are intermediate.  For some paper patterns there is no outline to cut out, only instructions and then you place them in specified areas but again no outlines for placement so you get to bring in your own creativity.  The final two are more difficult and have pieces that need to be cut without guidance that are not simple shapes (rectangle, diamond, rhombus).  I can't wait to get started on them.

Felt Ornament: Clown Fish

Inspiration: I wanted to make something else in felt and I wanted it to be colorful.  After some image surfing on the internet, I settled into making some clown fish.

How I Made Them: I found an image of a clown fish I liked online.  I printed out 2 copies.  I cut them out and created templates as I cut - one of the main body, then cut out the white stripes for more.  Then used the 2nd copy to cut out the 4 fins.  

I used the cardstock templates I made to cut my pieces out in felt.  I applique stitched the white stripes onto the fish body using white DMC floss.  I placed together my front and back and between them placed the fins and the charm hangers.  Starting at the front bottom fin, I blanket stitched around the fish using a DMC floss as close to the main color of felt as I could find.  After passing the last fin on my way around, I paused and stuffed the fish with some polyfil and then finished it.  I glued on a google eye to finish the fish.

Card: Hootie Turkey

Inspiration: I really hadn't planned on making a Thanksgiving card, but I thought it would be fun to make a card of the Hootie (Owl) as a Turkey to share with members of my technical community for Thanksgiving or messages of Gratitude.

How I Made Them: I used the same templates I used to make the felt ones (see this blog post) but cut them out of paper and then glued them together on a folded piece of 5x8 card stock.  The did extend a little over the edges but I figured that was ok.  I used them as note cards and wrote personal messages inside to the recipient(s).

Card: New Year's 2019

Yes, still posting old cards.

Inspiration: I didn't have a lot of time to create something that year but I had lots of postcard sized card stock in blue.  So I made a postcard for the New Year (I think I actually made them originally for Rosh Hashana and then just changes to the Gregorian year).

How I Made Them: I actually hand drew the Hebrew words and the 2019 on card stock but since I didn't trust that I could do it the same multiple times, I scanned the image and then printed it out for additional cards.  I colored them after printing - always making Ahava (Love) in pink or red, Shalom (peace) in Green or Purple, and Tikvah (Hope) in Gold or Yellow.  I used a variety of colors of the 2019.  Then I glued the coloring to the blue card stock and wrote "May peace, love, and hope surround us in 2019." near the bottom of the card with a Gold Gel Pen.

Card: New Year's 2020

Yes I know, it's now November and I'm posting about a New Year's Card that I sent out in January.  I'm just trying to catch up on sharing some of creativity that I didn't get posted the last few years.

Inspiration: So, it's 2020 which is like 20/20 so I went with glasses.  Plus I wanted something my daughter could help with and i knew I could get her to make drawings inside the glasses.

How I Made Them:  I used a plastic stencil I have that includes glasses as one of the options.  I chose to make them in purple because my daughter's glasses are purple.  I wrote the 20's in each lens and then had my daughter draw 2 of the same picture in each one.  Then I added the writing on the outside: "Looking up in the New Year!" On the inside, I included the following poem:

Let our thoughts this year
be fore-sighted and clear.
No doubts from hindsight
nor sight far nor near.
Let us smile -- shining bright
with laughter -- never fear
For we hold in our hearts
family and friends who are dear.

Felt Sewing: Salesforce Hootie Ornament

Inspiration:  Wait, did you really think I'd stop with just 2 of the Salesforce characters?  Of course not, that would be silly. Don't worry, I'm not planning on doing all of them (definitely not Appygail the Bobcat - that would be way too many small pieces to sew) but there will probably be a few more.  So since I did Earnie (who is all about the Trailhead Badges), I needed to do Hootie (because Badges lead to knowledge and Certification - in the Salesforce world anyway).

How I Made It: Just like the others, I started with an image I found of Hootie.  Since this one was in color, I used a lightbox and created an outline of each color section that I then photocopied and cut up to create my template.

I cut my templates out in felt (in some ways I wish I can had more color selection but I made do with what I had). I wish I'd had a paler yellow for the chest and more of a medium brown instead of the goldenrod I used for the body (something between a tan and the dark brown).

Once all the pieces were cut, I started assembling as follows:

1. Applique stitch the Chest to the Body (one of two pieces, 2nd is designated as the Back) using 2 strands of DMC 744.
2. Using a fabric pen, draw the chest wings on the chest.
3. Using 3 strands of DMC 725, fly stitch the chest wings.
4. Applique stitch the Eyes to the Body using 2 strands of DMC Blanc (White).
5. Applique stitch the Brows to the Eyes/Body using 2 strands of DMC 3072.
6. Applique stitch the Pupils to the Eyes using 2 strands of DMC 310 (Black).
7. Applique stitch the Beak to the Body using 2 strands of DMC 444.
8. Applique stitch just the top edges of the Talons to the Body using 2 strands of DMC 444.
9. Applique stitch just the concave edges of the Wings to the Body using 2 strands of DMC 938.
10. Blanket stitch the Body to the Back using 2 strands of DMC 435.
• Start just below the Right Wing.
• Fold the Right Wing back over the Body so you don't stitch it.
• Before the right head tip, place in the Ear Feather between the Body and the Back so you secure it with the blanket stitch.
• Pause at the top of the head to add a hanger (I used a lobster claw charm lanyard).
• Just after the left head tip, place in the Ear Feather between the Body and the Back so you secure it with the blanket stitch.
• Fold the Left Wing back over the Body so you don't stitch it.
• Be sure to work the blanket stitch under the Talons so you don't stitch them.
• After the 2nd Talon, pause to stuff the ornament with Polyfill (not too full).
• Then finish stitching to where you started.
• Tie off the stitch and then trim it.

Alternatives: When looking for a good image of Hootie for this ornament, I found this really great image of Hootie as a Thanksgiving Turkey.  I knew I had to make that version too.  

I mostly worked from the above information.  But there are 4 additional template pieces to make Hootie into a Turkey Owl.  The colors probably don't really matter just that they're all different and are seasonal.  I chose a floss color that matched the largest of the Back Feathers (DMC 742 with the colors I chose).  I took all 4 pieces and sewed them together with a back stitch (2 strands) along the center (if I were folding in half) but only from the bottom to about 2/3 the height of the smallest Back Feather.  Then before Step 10 above, I stitched the Back to the sewn together Back Feathers.  Then I carefully completed Step 10 above.

Felt Sewing: Salesforce Earnie Ornament

 

Inspiration: Since creating the Astro ornament went so well, I decided to make another one.  I found this version of Earnie the Badger in the Salesforce Activity Books and thought it would be fun to do too.

How I Made Them: Just like with the Astro I started by making copies of the coloring image and then cutting it apart to the pieces to make templates.  Then I made the template below.

I cut the pieces out of felt using the colors I wrote on the templates.  The only difference is that for the nose and mask pieces I used a stiffer type of felt rather than the usual (cheap) kind.  Note: I cut two of the Body but below I refer to one as the Body and one as the Back.

Once all the pieces were cut out, here are the steps I took to assemble this ornament:

1. Applique Stitch the Belly to the Body using 2-strands of DMC 646.
2. Applique Stitch the Face to the Body using 2-strands of  DMC Blanc (White). Do not stitch the whiskers.
3. Applique Stitch the Heart to the Body (overlaps the Belly) with 2-strands of  DMC 603.
4. Applique Stitch the Feet (both Rt and Lt Foot) to the Body with 2-strands of  DMC 310 (Black).
5. Applique Stitch the Hands (both Rt and Lt Hand) to the Body with 2-strands of  DMC 310 (Black).  These have overlap with the Heart and Belly.
6. Applique Stitch the Nose to the Face with 2-strands of  DMC 310 (Black).
7. Applique Stitch the Mask (both parts) to the Face with 2-strands of  DMC 310 (Black). Do not stitch the ears.
8. Using 6-strand DMC Blanc (White) create a single wrap French Knot for each Eye on the Mask.
9. Using 2-strand DMC 3072, Blanket Stitch the Body to the Back.  I start just below the Rt Hand and I make sure I only go through the Lt Gray layers of Felt.  I pause between the two ears to catch in the strand of a Lobster Clip Charm Lanyard for a hanger.  I then continue and pause after starting the Lt Foot to start adding some PolyFill Stuffing.  I use very little stuffing and help push it in with a yarn needle.  I finish where I started the Blanket Stitch, tie it off, and trim the end.

Felt Sewing: Salesforce Astro Ornament

 

Inspiration: I've made a whole bunch of cute little felt creatures lately and I felt like doing one of the Saleforce Astro mascot.

How I Made It: I started for the coloring page below that I traces from an old image of Astro.  

I made 5 photocopies of it and then started cutting out the parts as I thought I'd cut them from felt.  I used these paper cutouts to make templates in card stock.

I cut out the templates and then used them to cut out the felt.  To help ensure I got the shapes right without having to draw on the felt, I used little tape loops to temporarily security the template to the felt. The table below specifies the colors I used for each piece.

Part(s)	Felt Color
Body (cut 2), Front Leg, Back Foot, 4 Tail Stripes	Medium Brown
Belly, Front Foot Pad	Goldenrod
Ears	Dark Brown
Face	Cream
Hair, Eyes (cut 2), Tail	Black
Rt Hand, Lt Hand	Light Gray

Once all the pieces were cut, below are the steps I took to assemble the ornament.  I referred to the original coloring page above for the placement of the parts.

1. Glue Tail Stripes to Tail (I used Aleene's Tacky Glue).
2. Glue Font Foot Pad to Front Leg.
3. Using an applique stitch with 2 strands of DMC 435, sew the Belly to the Body (only 1 piece, 2nd is reserved to be the Back).
4. Using an applique stitch with 2 strands of DMC 838, sew the Ears to the Body.
5. Using an applique stitch with 2 strands of DMC ECRU, sew the Face to the Body.
6. Using an applique stitch with 2 strands of DMC 310 (Black), sew the Hair to the Face/Body.
7. Using an applique stitch with 2 strands of DMC 310 (Black), sew the Eyes to the Face/Body.
8. Using an applique stitch with 2 strands of DMC 801, sew the Front Leg to the Body, but do NOT stitch the Foot.
9. Using an applique stitch with 2 strands of DMC 3072, sew the Lt Hand to the Body with some overlap on the Front Leg.
10. Place the Back (2nd Body) aligned to the back of the sewn Body.  Using 2 strands of DMC 801, start sewing a Blanket Stitch to join the two large pieces just to the right of the right ear.
11. Pause at the top of the head to stitch in a hanger (I used a Lobster Claw Charm Lanyard) and then continue around the 2nd ear and rest of the head.
12. Continue the Blanket Stitch around the arm but pause just before finishing to position the Tail and Back Leg between the Body and Back.  Then continue stitching.
13. Stitch over the Body, Back, and Front Leg until you get to the foot, then fold over the foot to avoid stitching it.  Continue Blanket Stitching.
14. Pause about 1/2 way up the Belly to position the Rt Hand.  Then continue stitching.
15. Pause just after returning to the head to stuff the figure with PolyFill Stuffing.  Do Not Overstuff.
16. Finish the Blanket Stitch to where you started it, then tie it off and trim the extra.

Tips:

• Use tape loops or double-sided tape to secure the template to the felt when cutting.
• Keep all cut pieces in an envelope or small container so you don't loose any of them.
• Before stuffing, use a finger inside the ornament and make sure there are no gaps where you already secured the piece together.  If there are, fix them before you stuff the ornament.

Alternatives:

My daughter asked me to make her one in Purple (her favorite color).  So I made the following substitutions:

• For the Body, Front Leg, Back Leg, and Tail Stripes, I used Medium Purple Felt.
• For the Belly and Front Foot Pad, I used Light Purple Felt.
• For the Ears, I used a Dark Blue Felt.
• For stitching the Belly, I used DMC 209.
• For stitching the Ears, I used DMC 796.
• For stitching the Front Leg and doing the Blanket Stitch, I used DMC 208.

Product Review: Panda Embroidery Craft Kit

I picked up this kit as an add-on item to an Amazon order I made.  It cam with the stamped fabric, well sorted 7 colors of embroidery floss, hoop (for sewing and display), needles, and an instruction sheet.

Overall it was a very simple project to do.  None of the embroidery stitches were particularly difficult - mostly straight satin stitches and a few outline stitches.  I did modify to use a type of lazy-daisy stitch for the bamboo leaves. 

The instruction sheet was mostly just helpful for determine which colors to use where.  The kit had 2 needs attached to the fabric but those broke almost immediately while I was doing the first stitching.  A second set of needles in a package was included but since every stitch in the pattern called for 6-strand thread, I was unable to use those because the eyes of the needs just weren't big enough for me to thread them.  So I ended up using other needles I had to sew the majority of the project.

I think it turned out pretty cute in the end.

Cross-Stitch: Rainbow Unicorn Astro

Inspiration: Back in May, I saw this tweet where someone posted the pixel art his wife made.  At the time, I commented that it would make a nice cross-stitch project.  I finally decided to do it myself.

Thanks, Sophia Gigliotti, for the super fun pixel challenge to kick off our @CATlabWest component team working group!

Results were hilarious, but my wife spent an hour last night making some true @salesforce astro art. I'll just post hers and say it's what we aspire to. :) pic.twitter.com/flemDs7kiz

— Zak Landrum (@zaklandrum) May 7, 2020

How I Made It: I used white 14 count Aida Cloth.  I made some minor edits to the image after printing and noted some lines where I wanted to end some white sections, but I mostly stuck to the image from the tweet.  For colors I used:

Image Color	DMC Floss
Light Green	Silvery/Blue Metallic (# unknown)
Light Gray	3072
Black	Black
Cream	Ecru
Red	321
Orange	721
Yellow	444
Aqua/Teal	913
Blue	798
Purple	552
White	White

The image I marked up:

Finished Product:

Card: Rosh HaShanah: Stitched Earth

Inspiration:  With everything that's been happening since March, I felt that my Rosh HaShanah card somehow needed to reflect the feelings of disconnect, disorder, brokenness, and small pieces of hope and repair.  I settled, in my mind, on the image of Earth and thought that with all the sewing projects I've been doing lately (including masks for my family) that an Earth being stitched back together definitely fit the times.  For the greeting, I wanted to share my own hopes that the next year brings an improvement to all we are facing from COVID-19 to racial unrest to issues of health within my own family while still sharing the good I see from friends and family who are doing their part to help - organizing support for protesters, providing safe spaces to meet online, spearheading ways to give to one another - as well as the small ways even I help - more mentoring, sharing little things I make by sending mailing to cheer others up, having my daughter make encouraging art that we put up in our picture window for our neighbors to see.

How I Made Them: I started by using a template for a circle and blue card stock.  Then I used green card stock and tried to make a bit of a silhouette of the continents from a Google-searched image.  I glued these together using Modge Podge and a paint brush.  While my Earth dried, I took the wording I put together and typed it up in a Google Doc and found a font I liked and then printed (I knew I'd be making too many of this card to want to hand write all of them).  After printing, I used colored pencils to color in and give the background of my text a rainbow-feel.  I cut out the colored text and used Permanent Crafter's Tap to affix it on the front and inside of the card.  Once the Earth was dry, I cut a zig zag down it's center.  Then I took a 2-strand piece of embroidery floss in a needle and stitched it (leaving the ends hanging off).  I used Elmer's School Glue and affixed the cut and stitched Earth to the front of my card and then a glue stick to get the floss ends sticky so I press the down on the card so they weren't just flopping around.

Card Text:

Front: As we approach this Rosh HaShanah...

Inside: we pray for guidance on the path to: healing for our entire work, repairing our relationships with one another, supporting those striving to improve all our lives, love and peace in our hearts and homes. May this year be a year of positive change and blessings.

Other Ideas:

I wanted to get my daughter to help by painting large sheets of paper with blue and green that I would then cut out circles from but she was distracted by Legos and Online School work.  I also probably could have used bigger string to make it stand out more.  I also wish I wasn't making so many so I could have hand-written then greeting so instead I'll add personal messages to those I'm sending the cards to.

More Images:

After coming up with the idea, my first step was to create a sample card and refine my text.  These 1st two images are of that sample card.

The rest of these images show a bunch of Earths before cutting and the finished inside of my card.

Cross-Stitch & Felt Sewing: More cuteness

 This past week I did some more projects from Kawaii Craft Life.  These were all in the Cross Stitching section (pages 85-117).  Per the book, some were meant to be wine glass charms or cupcake toothpick decorates but for those I chose to make them magnets.  Basically they were stitched on aida cloth, trimmed, and then glued onto felt.  I also made a couple of napkin holders and a cute little gift bag.  When I didn't have the exact color of DMC floss as listed in the project I used this DMC Color Substitute Chart to see what I did have that could work.  Overall I think they all turned out pretty cute and can't wait to send them on as gifts or maybe as some geocaching swag.

The penguin was meant to be a cupcake topper and the 4 little animal heads were supposed to be wine glass charms but I made all of these into magnets.

I think the little gift bag turned out pretty cute.  I need to make at least 3 more of the acorn napkin holder so I can use them this Thanksgiving.

These little sushi magnets are making me a little hungry.

Felt Sewing: Lots of little critters

Inspiration: To keep busy during our #StayAtHome time during COVID-19, I kept busy doing lots of crafting.  Some of what I wanted to do was create the various felt projects from the book Kawaii Craft Life.  

How I Made Them: I mostly stuck to the instructions in the book, only veering to 1) use googly eyes instead of sewing them or 2) to change the type of final product like pins instead of charms or ornament hangers instead of something else.  If I was making more than one, I'd make the first with the colors listed in the book and then try a creative combination for the 2nd.  This worked most of the time, though I still think the purple fox is a little weird (cute, but still weird).

More Photos:

The original owl is upper left.  The blues were my "creative choice" for a 2nd version.  I made these 2 into pins.

The original brown fox and the purple fox, again these are pins.

The last of the woodland creatures are these 2 little hedgehogs.  The red one is my "creative choice" and they are pins.

This frosted donut charm is making me hungry.  The original craft was supposed to be a coaster.

Cute little cupcake, though this is probably too big to really be a charm, more like an ornament.

Lastly, my fry guys ornaments.  I always giggle and think of the commercials from when I was a kid when I look at these.

Felt Sewing: Bomb Pops for Teacher

Inspiration: I started making these cute little Bomb Pop felt pins and thought that it would be cute to tell my daughter's teachers that they were "Da Bomb".  Plus it was November, so it was perfect!

How I Made Them: The Bomb Pop felt pins came from the book Kawaii Craft Life.  These were one of the Frosty Treat Charms (pages 60, 64-65).  I photocopied the template and cute the pieces.  Instead of stitching the eyes, I used adhesive googly eyes (if you look in the picture above I used different sizes but was always careful to make sure a given figure had 2 of the same size).  I drew on the mouth with a red Sharpie instead of stitching it.  I also cut a small extra square of felt of the same color I used for the backing and sewed it around a small safety pin.  Finally, I used business size card stock and wrote on it using colored Sharpie markers.  I put "I think UR: in red, "DA BOMB" in blue and then "Thank you for being a great teacher!" in green.  My daughter signed the backs and we put each in an envelope with the teacher's name.

Other Ideas:

• An of the cute projects in this book would make an awesome teacher gift!
• I made pins, but you could easily make them as bookmarks or charms.  There are even a few projects in the book that make cute coasters or gift card holders.

Felt Sewing: Ice Cream Cone Bookmarks

Inspiration: At the end of each club season for my GirlsWhoCode Club, I put together items for the club members.  Since we were having our sharing and celebration at an ice cream parlor and we usually meet at the library, I thought these would be a cute little reminder. 

How I Made Them: A few weeks before I made these I found the book Kawaii Craft Life during a trip to Michaels.  These ice cream cones were one of the Frosty Treat Charms (pages 60, 64-65).  I photocopied the template and cute the pieces.  Instead of stitching the eyes, I used adhesive googly eyes (if you look in the picture above I used different sizes but was always careful to make sure a given figure had 2 of the same size).  I drew on the mouth with a red Sharpie instead of stitching it.  After assembling the front, I cut a ribbon about 6 inches in length and secured it between the front and back before gluing on the back (I did not stuff the piece or whipstitch it together).  I tied a knot about 1-inch from the end, added a pony bead, and then another knot to security it on. 

Other Ideas:

• Sewing down the ribbon and whipstitching the pieces together might make them last a little longer.
• I found that sometimes I had to glue down the eyes even though they had adhesive.
• I could have cut out of felt and glued on the mouths.
• I could also make these into pins too.

ShrinkyDinks

Do you remember making ShrinkyDinks as a kid?  You'd get a kit with the sheets, colored pencils or markers and there were very basic instructions to bake them. My mom would only let us make them once in a great while - mostly because they made the whole house smell (though not as bad as the Make-It Bake-It Stained Glass kits).  An acquaintance on Twitter had recently posted making some and I thought I'd look into it since much of the artwork my daughter creates would look great as little glass ornaments or cell phone danglers.

I picked up a 6-pack of the specialty material while at a local craft store recently and when it was too rainy to go outside, my daughter and I made a couple of sheets worth.  The material I picked up was called Shrink Film and it's also available in a 50-pack (if you're really into this). 

I hadn't actually read all the instructions inside the package until just before I was ready to bake them so based on what I read from the outside, we used Sharpie and Shuttle Art markers to color ours.  My daughter drew her ideas out on paper and then traced the outline of the final drawing on the "rough" side of the film.  I used images from some Salesforce-themed coloring books and an old watercolor painting of a butterfly (Florida Atala) that I did many years ago.  I then cut them out leaving some space around them and smoothing/rounding edges.  I also used a hole punch because I remember that after they bake, you really don't want to have to use a drill to add a hole.  I used parchment paper on my cookie sheet and also put a piece over the pieces too.

This picture is over the pieces before they were cooked.  We used pretty small pieces.  The largest is the butterfly which is about the size of my hand (fingers included).  I baked them at 350 degrees for 2 minutes.  I did use a spatula while the upper parchment paper was still in place to help ensure they were "mostly" flattened (or at least no big curling bumps).  When finished I added some cell phone lanyards that we got in Japan a few years ago.  My daughter can't wait to give one to her Grandma (the one she says in her in a purple kimono).  They shrunk way more than I expected but they turned out super cute and I can't wait to make more!

The end pieces looks really awesome in the sunlight.  The picture below is of the butterfly I did handing in my office window along with the original watercolor that I used for tracing when I created it.  As mentioned the watercolor is about the size of my hand and the finished ShrinkyDink is a little smaller than a square Post-It.

Some new Cross-Stitching

Inspiration: For my job, I work as a Salesforce Administrator (not for the company Salesforce).  I love learning via the Trailhead platform and may be a little obsessed with the Salesforce characters.  A few months ago someone posted a pixelated image of the rainbow unicorn Astro.  At the time, I posted a reply stating that this would make a great cross-stitch project.  However, since I was working on other things I really didn't give much though to doing it myself.  I went back to making some felt cute characters (that I'll show in a later post).  In a post I made of one of those cute felt characters, someone shared a link to blog that included a crocheted Codey that was pretty cute.  I took a look at the post and the instructions included an image that I could easily use to cross stitch, so I did.  The author also had a post for a crocheted Astro.  I used that one too.  Then feeling like I had to do Cloudy (since Astro is central but Codey represents developers and Cloudy represents Admins, I couldn't just do one and not the other). So that brought me to making a cross-stitched Cloudy too.

How I Made Them: For Codey, I used the pattern provided in this blog post.  I found DMC floss in colors close to what the author described (sorry I didn't write them down but I think they were Black, 801 for the Dark Brown, and 436 for the Light Brown).  I used 14 count White Aida cloth and used the fold-over before stitching method for the edges.  I used White DMC Floss to fill in the rest.

For Astro, I started from the pattern provided in this blog post.  I didn't feel like make Astro's costume in the dark colors the author posted was correct so I went with a lighter tan and then modified the ears to make the insides dark more like the Plush versions of the character I have at home.  So for colors I used DMC flosses of Black, Ecru (skin), 436 for the lighter brown, and 433 for the dark brown in the ears.  I used 14 count White Aida cloth and used the fold-over before stitching method for the edges.  I used White DMC Floss to fill in the rest.

For Cloudy, I didn't have a pattern to start from so I had to make one.  I found an image of Cloudy I like on Google and then used LunaPic to crop it and used the Lego effect to get it closer to a grid-based image with colors.  I then drafted out what I was going to do on graph paper and set to work on it.  For colors, I used the following DMC Floss: White, Black, 436 for the brown horns, 605 for the mouth, 3072 for the grey, and 801 with only a half-stitch to create a sky-like background to make Cloudy's white fur pop a little more.  I used 14 count White Aida cloth and used the fold-over before stitching method for the edges.

Other Ideas:

I definitely still want to do some of the other Salesforce characters like Appy and Earnie.  Also the blog I used for patterns above also had one for the Trailhead Logo that might be fun to do.  And of course, that original Twitter post that inspired this still needs to be cross-stitched.