Wolfpack Running Club

It has truly been a pleasure to get to create the brand for Wolfpack Running Club.

A few years ago, my kids joined a cross country team at their school through an elementary program. It was a fun intro-to-running program that was game-based and taught kids how to love running and be part of a team. They showed some natural talent when training and in 2021, my youngest was invited to join the competition team where he qualified to run at the USATF Cross Country National Championships. We weren’t able to attend that meet, but he was determined to qualify for Nationals again the following year.

In the following spring, the folks who ran those teams moved away from the larger, multi-city organization they had been part of and created their own nonprofit running club. Wolfpack Running Club was born with an elementary program for kindergarten thru 6th grade and a competition program for 3rd through 8th grade. In the spring they do track and field and in the fall they do cross country. They are affiliated with USA Track & Field and compete at local meets, state meets, and sometimes USATF National meets.

That spring, both of my boys joined the competition team and learned the ins and outs of track and field.

Throughout all of this, I have been the designer for their logos, merch, website, social media, and branding. I take photos at meets and some trainings. We started with these navy t-shirts and the hashtag that goes on everything #OnePack.

From there we created uniform singlets, hoodies, jackets, pullovers, drawstring backpacks, beanies, and hats. We also have vinyl stickers, temporary tattoos, Croc charms, and we are looking at possibly adding a tie-dye hoodie and a trucker running hat next year.

Every cross country season, athletes on the comp team keep track of their miles. When they reach 100 miles, they earn a t-shirt that has a different design each year.

100 Mile Pack tee from 2022 Cross Country

100 Mile Pack tee from 2023 Cross Country - I’m really proud of this design.

In the spring with track and field, rather than track miles (because sprinters and kids who specialize in field events don’t get much mileage), they are encouraged to train and/or compete in ALL of the events and keep track of them. Lots of kids join track with an idea of what they want to compete in, but then later realize they’re awesome at something else. My cross country kid turned out to be great at hurdles. My youngest thought he wanted to be a sprinter but turned out to be awesome at mid-distance. Also, if they join the track team in high school, odds are high they won’t get to do more than one or two events.

2022’s Track & Field earned tee. We learned this color tee doesn’t look that great in person.

2023’s Track & Field earned tee. I was really happy with the design on this one. One Pack Mind… get it? Like One Track Mind? For track & field?? Lol.

For cross country season, we typically have a large group that will qualify and make the trip to USATF Nationals. So I design a t-shirt for those kids and a parent version that family can purchase.

2022 USATF XC Nationals Tees

2023 USATF XC Nationals Tees

Throughout the seasons, I have also created certificates and inspirational things that we do for these awesome kids along with flyers, meet posters, yard signs, banners, and social media graphics. Some are super simple, some are more complex.

Little 4x6 signs for track or cross country, and bookmarks.

In the spring, we are hoping to buy these trucker running hats to sell to our athletes and their families that are adorned with a watercolor painting that I did of Lone Peak here in Utah. Almost all of our training happens around the base of this mountain.

It has truly been a blast creating this brand and I am so proud of how it has become cohesive and evolved into something that I hope these kids are proud to represent. We see a local high school cross country team doing runs around town and nothing makes me prouder than seeing former teammates wearing their Wolfpack t-shirt.

On social media, give us a follow! We’re @wolfpackrunningutah on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

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 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.

Family Forest Fest

I had the privilege of creating artwork for the Family Forest Fest; a camping experience designed for families with young children. In 2017 they had events in two locations; one on Whidbey Island outside of Seattle, the other at Leaping Lamb Farm in Alsea, Oregon. In 2018, they had one event in Alsea, Oregon. They hosted a teddy bear hunt, outdoor play for kids, live music, bubble professionals, a movie night, a costume carnival, night hikes, family yoga, and so much more. There were also outdoor gear vendors there with gear for campers (and kids) try out. It looked amazing and I was sad to see them stop the events when it was becoming too difficult to make it sustainable.

I designed t-shirts for the events along with magazine ads, social media graphics, event maps, signs, and banners. Here's the adult t-shirt from 2017. It was printed in kelly green for staff members and navy blue for adult attendees.

The kids tees were printed on lime green.

I also created signs to identify different parts of the camp and a map of each location so campers knew where everything was. Some spaces were even sponsored.

Event map for the Oregon event:

For the 2018 event, they were able to use many of the same signs, but we did revamp the t-shirt designs:

Kid’s shirts were bright blue:

For the adult tees, they went with this lovely shade of dark green along with some lighter green and gray options:

Image by Heartbeat Photography

Image by Heartbeat Photography

Image by Heartbeat Photography

Image by Heartbeat Photography

It was such a pleasure to work on all of these items for Family Forest Fest. Thank you so much Shanti and Erin!

Hike it Baby T-shirts

After my youngest son was born in 2014, I finally had the motivation to explore some of the fantastic hiking close to where I live outside of Salt Lake City. With my husband working and my oldest in school during the day, I didn’t want to hike by myself and many of the trails local to us get pretty crowded on weekends. My husband isn’t a huge fan of hiking either, but he comes sometimes when our oldest asks really nicely (or begs).

I also have a love for babywearing, so when I saw a post in my local babywearing Facebook group about an organized hike where babywearing was encouraged, I jumped on the chance to join and see what it was all about. And I discovered Hike It Baby.

June 2015, Albion Basin, Alta, UT. He was so little!!

Hike It Baby was created a couple of years ago by a mama named Shanti in Portland, OR who had the simple desire to get outside after having her son. She didn’t want to hike alone and wasn’t quite ready for jogging or long bike rides and she didn’t want to juggle finding a sitter so she could join a gym. She invited friends to hike with her and word began to spread. Now she inspires and encourages families to get outside and explore with their kids, all over the country.

Through social media, families can hike together, make new friends and encourage and support each other. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced hiker or a beginner, they all have your back and no hiker is left behind. Local chapters are led by volunteers and, best of all, hiking is usually free!

From my first Hike it Baby hike! Bells Canyon, UT.

About a year ago, Hike it Baby held a design contest for a new t-shirt design. I entered and won! My t-shirt was made and sold to Hike it Baby members. Even my dad bought one. This was the design:

Shortly after, Shanti contacted me about designing a couple more t-shirts for various fundraising campaigns. Here's what we made:

My oldest has the Earth Day shirt and he still proudly wears it.

Provo River Falls, Kamas, UT

Cut to now, I'm thrilled to work for Hike it Baby, providing as much as they need when it comes to graphics, whether it's a t-shirt, a sticker, social media graphics and more. These are some of the more recent t-shirts I've done for Hike it Baby:

This t-shirt with the moon and mountains was sold during the January 2018 Hike it Baby 30 challenge. There will be new t-shirts for the April, September, and November challenges this year too.