Hike it Baby 30 - April 2021

Hike it Baby 30 is here! What is this, you ask? It’s a challenge to get outside with your family every day for 30 days during the month of April. Hike it Baby is a nationwide nonprofit that aims to support families with young children to get outside and explore; no matter what that outdoor exploration looks like. Every April and September, they host a 30-day challenge and fundraiser that encourages and supports families getting outside every day for 30 days. Families who join and make a donation get to join a Facebook group where everyone shares their adventures and supports one another. They are also entered into drawings to win prizes from sponsors and everyone who joins the challenge gets a sticker that is unique to that challenge. Adventures can be in your neighborhood, backyard, local park, beach, lake, paved trail, or in the woods or mountains.

It’s been my privilege to get to design the stickers for these fundraisers since late 2017. Last September, I created a sticker that embraced the uniqueness of spring 2020 by showing a city park rather than a remote wilderness. For this April’s challenge, I continued that theme with a city fishing pond. The hammock and fishing pond was where my family spent a lot of our outside time in 2020, so it was special for me to create it in watercolor.

In addition to the sticker, Hike it Baby had me create a Spring Workbook for participants to use during the challenge. We grabbed some of the activity sheets that I created in the past and added a few new ones along with a spiffy, spring cover. I really love how it turned out.

30 flowers to color for 30 days.

Lastly, we almost always have a t-shirt campaign to go with each HiB30 and this time is no different. I was asked to make our sticker artwork into a t-shirt design that coordinated with previous t-shirt designs and there is a campaign with Bonfire for t-shirts, tote bags, and mugs. Check it out!

I cannot wait to see what we can create for the next Hike it Baby 30 challenge this coming September.

Hike it Baby Social Media & Magazine Ads

Aside from the activity sheets and watercolor stickers I’ve had the pleasure of creating for Hike it Baby, one thing I create for them on a regular basis are social media graphics and magazine ads. They work with a bunch of really amazing photographers and I get to turn some truly beautiful photos into social media graphics and, when it’s in the budget or they can get free ad space, magazine ads. Below are some of my favorites:

The graphics below were printed in a couple of magazines like Backpacker Magazine, Outside Magazine, and a couple of smaller publications.

This one is easily one of my favorites, and I think it was the first time we were able to get a full-page ad in Backpacker Magazine. What a beautiful photo!

These are so much fun to work on and it is very exciting to see one of these ads in print!

Hike it Baby 30 - Sept 2020

I had the privilege of creating a watercolor painting for Hike it Baby for their bi-annual fundraiser and challenge. With 2020 being quite a unique year when it comes to pretty much everything, Hike it Baby is aiming to encourage families to simply get outside every day, in any form that works best for them. It was fitting that this sticker depicted a city park.

I also created a coordinating t-shirt graphic that you can purchase from Bonfire:

One of the things that marked a big change for Hike it Baby in 2020 was their elimination of a paid membership model. After becoming an official 501c3 nonprofit company, Hike it Baby looked at different ways they could earn money to stay afloat; especially considering how quickly they were growing. So a few years back, they implemented a $10 annual membership fee to access their website. Wanting to make sure that membership was as inclusive as possible from here on out, they decided that inclusivity meant making Hike it Baby free to everyone.

Of course this means they need to lean on their members more than ever to make sure they have enough funds to stay in business (which is the challenge for most nonprofits). To help boost fundraising efforts for this September’s Hike it Baby 30 Fundraiser, they are offering a poster version of the sticker.

Donate $10 or more starting on September 17th and you will receive a printable 8x10 print via email. My first grader was happy to pose with our print. If you’d like to donate, click here.

Hike it Baby is an organization that’s near and dear to me. Meeting fellow parents through Hike it Baby is what gave me the confidence to explore local trails with my kids and even get back into camping after a decades-long hiatus. They are really building a great community and want to make sure that the outdoors is accessible to absolutely everyone. I feel so lucky to get to create artwork and graphics for them. Please consider making a donation and joining a Hike it Baby Branch in your community.

Hike it Baby 30 Challenge - 2019

I had the pleasure of creating stickers to commemorate the two Hike it Baby 30 Challenges for 2019. In previous years, they used to have four challenges every year, but decided to cut it down to just two in April and September. You can see the stickers I created for 2018 here.

For 2019, we stuck with a similar watercolor and ink style and I made the April sticker quintessential to spring with blooming crocus, green grass, patches of melting snow, and the sky streaked for a sunrise.

In an effort to get more folks out on trail with their kids, they created a secondary challenge called Take it Outside. Participants received a sticker that loosely coordinated with the HiB30 sticker along with two sheets of little stickers to use on a calendar page that they printed out. Each day on the calendar page gave ideas for a daily activity designed to motivate people to get outside every day. I love how these turned out and it was awesome to see folks using the calendar page and stickers throughout the challenge.

Here’s the calendar page that I created for participants to download and print:

They received this sticker sheet in the mail shortly after signing up:

You can see a mini version of the Take it Outside sticker too!

When the September challenge rolled around, I created a new sticker and we added a few more hikers to the artwork, wanting to give more of a community feel. The Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina were the inspiration for this sticker.

To go with the September sticker, they did another Take it Outside challenge for new members too, this was the coordinating sticker.

Hike it Baby Turtle Fur Tube - Winter Edition

I had a wonderful time creating the sticker for this spring’s Hike it Baby 30 challenge and fundraiser. HiB partnered with Turtle Fur to offer this snuggly warm Turtle Fur Tube with my artwork on it.

I love how it turned out!

This is the sticker artwork that was used.

This neck gaiter is thicker than your typical gaiters and is perfect for a cold, snowy day of play. Mine helped keep me warm during a long day of sledding near Park City, UT. There was a very cold wind that day.

Order yours here!
Update: the tube is no longer available, but so many thanks to everyone who ordered one!