Wolfpack Running Club Custom Trucker

It has been a true pleasure to build the visual brand of Wolfpack Running Club. You can see lots of the stuff I’ve created for them here. Last year I made this painting of Lone Peak in watercolor, ink, and gouache. You can see photos of the painting and a link to a timelapse video here. All of Wolfpack’s trainings and most meets meets take place around Lone Peak; which is one of the prominent peaks along the Wasatch Front. Even most of Wolfpack’s trail runs are around its base, so it was only fitting that it we put Lone Peak somewhere on our merch.

The folks at Boco Gear did an amazing job putting my artwork on their running trucker hats. They turned out SO good! If you’re ever looking to have custom hats made, check them out. You can order as few as 50 at a time (which is rare).

The first order we placed was for 50 hats. The imposter syndrome in me was terrified that no one would buy one. They would think the artwork was shit and our small club would be stuck trying to sell these hats. Wolfpack is a nonprofit, so they are hoping to make a few bucks from these hats and not selling them not cheap. To my surprise (and relief), we sold out of them and placed a second order a few months later. Whew!

It also helps that the hats themselves are really nice quality and comfortable to wear when running. I purposely wanted hats that could be worn by both adults and kids. The velcro tab in the back makes them easy to adjust to little heads. They aren’t the common, stiff trucker hats that are often too big for anyone who has a smaller-than-average head. Check out the Reel I posted on Wolfpack’s Instagram about why we put Lone Peak on our merch here.

I adore my hat and wear it for most of the summer.

Our Holiday Card - 2024

I love to create holiday cards; especially for my own family. You can see my past holiday cards here.

I’m actually frustrated that my family hasn’t managed any professional photos since the end of 2020. But, I am hoping to remedy that in 2025. If anyone can recommend a photographer in Salt Lake City that is good at posing families, please let me know.

For us, 2024 revolved heavily around the sports my kids play; soccer, taekwondo, track & field, and cross country. My husband is an assistant coach on one kid’s soccer team. I have a black belt in taekwondo and often help train kids for tournaments or belt testing. I’m sometimes a hurdles coach for our track team and I do all of the social media for our track and cross country teams. I also take photos at soccer games, track and XC meets, taekwondo tournaments, and belt tests. Because of sports commitments, we didn’t even manage to squeeze in a family vacation this year. The trip to Missoula, Montana we took for a track meet didn’t count!

So yeah, my husband and I feel like all we did was work and drive kids to and from school and sports this year. I’m not resentful, we both feel that it’s important to stick with a team if you’ve committed to it. But, DAMN we’re tired.

It was only appropriate that our holiday card to reflect that sentiment. I had no shortage of photos of my kids in their respective sports, but alas, no photos of the four of us except for a selfie or two (at a sporting event no less!).

On the back, a brief rundown of what my kids were up to with their respective sports and photos of my husband and me doing what we felt like we did all year…. taxi driver, photographer, asst coach, and day job to pay for ALL the sports.

I’m really happy with how our cards turned out.

I had them printed at my local Office Depot on card stock. I ordered some really cheap kraft paper envelopes from Amazon (that I won’t order again because the adhesive didn’t work). I printed addresses using my old HP laster printer to make things easier.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Yule, Saturnalia, Solstice, Festivus… whatever you celebrate to make winter feel less dreary.

Irvington Track & Cross Country

My brother and sister-in-law are both teachers at Irvington High School in northern California. Last year, they became coaches for the school’s track and field team and this fall they added the cross country team to their jobs.

They were in need of some cool graphics to adorn uniform singlets and t-shirts so we went to work coming up with something that the athletes could be proud to wear. School colors are royal blue and white. They are the Irvington Vikings, so we played around with concepts that included a horned helmet, wings, a wooden shield, arrows, a wood grain texture, and some fun fonts.

For uniform singlets, we kept it simple with just the school name with the helmet and wings. That way they can use the same graphic for both track and field and cross country. I think they will get sublimated singlets for the teams.

Sublimated printing is a bit more expensive at the start, but it allows for more freedom with colors and designs and the shirts last longer wash after wash. This is especially important for sports teams where athletes don’t keep the singlets when the season ends and they are loaned to another athlete the following year. This is where screen printing can wear out over time.

For track and field, we also wanted some cool t-shirts that athletes can wear to trainings and to kind of advertise their team. I sent a few concepts to my brother and he had a few of track athletes that are in his math class give their input and we went from there.

When it was time for cross country season, we had fun with a popular saying for many cross country teams. They are planning to print these on a heathered navy blue tee.

These were so much fun to create!! Thanks Pat and Melissa!