Salesforce Character Cards: A Shared Document

Last week, I was privileged to get to lead a crafting session at the WITness Success Conference in Minneapolis.  I prepared kits for attendees to craft their own cards showcasing Astro Nomical, Cloudy the Goat, Ruth the Elephant, Hootie McOwlface, or Codey the Bear.  We had a good time.  I didn't get to share the slides I'd prepared but we had great discussions as we crafted.  To end it all, I made a document with all the templates of Salesforce Characters I've created available.  You too can create some cards with Salesforce Characters using the embedded document below.  If you make a card, please share it in social media using the #craftforce tag.  Thanks!

Salesforce Character Cards.pdf from Lynda Kane

Card: Meditation Astro (Salesforce Character)

Inspiration: There's this pin I got at Dreamforce '18 of Astro.  They're sitting criss-cross apple-sauce with eyes closed.  Astro looks so calm and peaceful.  There are just too many times when I look at it that I wish I was that relaxed.  I like the idea of wishing others that level of peace and calm through a card.

How I Made It: As I often do when creating projects based on these characters, I Google'd for the image I wanted and printed off multiple copies of it in the size I needed (I typically work with a 4x5 inch card).  I use this printed image to cut out the pieces I think I'll need to make and trace their edges onto card stock to create a template.  On the template pieces I note what the part is and what color paper I think I want to use for it.

Once my template is set, I cut it out and layout it out to make sure I have all the parts.  Then I use it to trace and cut out paper in the colors I want to use.

I glue everything together and onto the card.  I finish up with some drawing in markers (Astro's closed eyes for this card) and add in some background if inspired to do so.

My card really isn't complete until I add my LBK Card Creations on the back.

Alternatives:

• I made a version with some cool patterned paper I picked up at Hollo's.  I want to find other neat paper to see how interesting I can make Astro.
• I used this image of Astro to draw a little girl meditating for my daughter's Bat Mitzvah service book - I should totally make these into cards too.
  
  
  

Card: Cloudy the Goat (Salesforce Character)

Inspiration: I've already made cards and have templates for most of the main Salesforce Characters (Astro, Codey, Hootie, Ruth).  I felt I needed to do one for Cloudy who represents Salesforce Administrators.

How I Made It: Like most of these, I started from an image of the character I found online.  Resized it to fit the card size I usually make and printed a few copies.  Then I cut out the different parts (or what I viewed as the different parts) and created a template.

Then I cut out the template and created pieces in each designated color.  I used white for the body, head, and right front leg.  I used brown for the 2 antlers, and black for the 3 hoofs.  Once all the pieces were cut out I glued them together onto a card (I used a light green for the card since I figured a mostly white character shouldn't be on a plain white card).

After gluing it all together I used a pink gel pen to draw Cloud's smile and a black Micron to draw the eye.

Alternatives: I guess I could have used a white card if I was going to draw/color a background.  I could also work on creating some kind of costume for Cloudy to wear (maybe).

Card: Ruth (Salesforce Elephant)

Inspiration: I've made card-versions of few of the Salesforce characters.  Since I'm working on a crafting event for a local Women-in-Tech (WIT) group, I thought it might be a good idea to have one for this very popular character representing Architects.

How I Made It: I started from an image I found of the character online.  She has her right arm raised up and is wearing her typical outfit (paint splotched shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, pearl necklace).  I printed multiple copies of the image in the size of the card I typically make (4 inches by 5 inches).  Then I cut out parts and used them to create a template.

I cut out my template and then traced on the colors of paper marked.  Gray for the body, ears, arms, and tail.  White for the shirt.  Blue for the pants. Pink for the cheeks. I chose a shiny black for the shoes (so she ends up wearing patent-leather flats rather than tennis shoes). 

On the shirt, I used markers to color in the paint splotches.  Then I started to glue all the parts together.  I used a shiny light blue gel marker to draw in the pearl necklace after gluing on the shirt.  The last part was to use a black marker and draw in the eyes and lashes.

Alternates:

I didn't add much to this card, other than coloring in grass and sky.  Since I'm making a bunch of kits for others to make their own versions, it'll be fun to see how they embellish and add to it.

Cross-Stitch: Lightning Astro

 

Inspiration: I wanted to make a small gift for someone in the Salesforce Community who is also a #PlatformChampion (former Lightning Champion) like me.  I thought Astro in his Lightning suit with the lightning bolt would be perfect.

How I Made it: I took an image of Astro and used LunaPic to turn it into a Lego-ified image.  Then drew it out on graph paper making some modifications along the way.  I picked out embroidery floss colors based on what I had and started stitching.

What I'd change: I'm still not certain I like the background color.  I made two and on one I used a dark blue but neither is really right.  I don't like it just with no background because it's harder to see the little lightning bolts on the helmet and the arms are pretty pale.

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).

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.

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:

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.