Hike it Baby Turtle Fur Tube

I have been a contract graphic designer for Hike it Baby for a long time and this year I got to work on an awesome design for a Turtle Fur tube and it became available just this month.

We wanted it to be a fun, I-Spy activity along with it being sophisticated enough that adults would be happy to wear it too. You can search in the pattern for HiB-branded water bottles, footprints from different animals, a couple of birds, bugs, worms, and beanies, and a frequent character in HiB media: Wox the Wandering Fox.

Order yours here!

I am really proud of how it turned out and I can’t wait to see one in person as soon as they ship. 50% of each unit sold will go directly to Hike it Baby. What a great way to get some cool merch AND support a wonderful nonprofit.

Product of the Month - June 2021 - Deuter Backpacks

I really love good backpacks and I don’t think it’s possible to own too many (for now). With as much hiking as we do, having a good backpack is essential. I love when they have pockets in all the right places and comfortable straps that breathe when you are working hard. Most of our backpacks are from Deuter. I love that Deuter makes backpacks in a ton of sizes; from toddler sizes all the way up to multi-day backpacking packs for adults.

This post contains a few affiliate links. Shopping through these links earns me a few cents and I say a loud “thank you” to you from my office chair and make my kids wonder if I’m shouting at them.

I discovered Deuter a few years ago when they were a sponsor for Hike it Baby. Thanks to a discount I was able to get hiking backpacks for myself and both of my kids and we are still using them four years later. My 11yo uses his Deuter Junior backpack as a dedicated pack for his fishing gear now. My 7yo used to use a Kikki Backpack for hiking, but as he’s grown he’s upgraded to a Junior backpack for hiking and outdoor playtime. It’s great for holding his snacks, water bottle, a change of clothes, and all of his outdoor essentials: binoculars, crayons, sketchbook, rocks, and a few Hot Wheels cars. We are gifting our Kikki Backpack to a younger friend this year so he can start getting used to carrying some of his own stuff when he goes hiking.

My ONE complaint about the Junior Backpack is the lack of a pocket inside to hold a water bladder. The Kikki has one, please add one to the Junior, Deuter!!

Rocking my Lillebaby CarryOn Toddler Carrier and my son’s Deuter Junior Backpack

I also really liked the Junior backpacks for when my youngest was still iffy on hiking and sometimes needed to ride on my back because it was big enough that I could wear it on my front if he needed a ride… like above.

For day hikes, I have a Deuter SpeedLite 24 SL. It’s super lightweight and really comfortable for when I need to carry a little extra and might still need the support of a pack that has a waistband. My only complaint is that it doesn’t have a lot of little storage pockets; it’s mostly one big pocket and space for a bladder. It really works best for when I need to bring my hammock, Thermarest travel pillow, blanket, water, and art tool kit on a day hike; items that are larger and need a big pocket to accommodate.

My sister and I wearing both of my Deuter day packs. Image by Zion Adventure Photog

I also have a Deuter ACT Trail 28 SL (a discontinued model) that has loads more of the little pockets for storing little items. But the ACT Trail backpack is heavier overall, so I don’t use it as often as the SpeedLite 24. I have used it a few times for air travel or road trips when I don’t need to bring my laptop with me. The bright turquoise color makes it easy to spot me at the airport too.

For air travel and occasional overnight trips, I use my Deuter Giga laptop backpack. I had been using a wonderful, custom pack from Timbuk2 that doubled as a diaper bag when my kids were younger, but some jackass broke into my rental car and stole it a few years ago. I replaced it with the Giga and it’s been fantastic. It came with a separate zipper pouch that holds my charging cables and a briefcase-sized zipper pouch that hold my laptop. If I don’t want to use the laptop pouch, the backpack itself holds my laptop securely. There are pockets everywhere and it has the same comfort as the hiking backpacks. It constantly amazes me just how much I can cram in this pack and it keeps my laptop and DSLR camera snug and secure.

I even use a Deuter pack for backpacking now. Last year I introduced my oldest son to backpacking and I bought a Kelty Redwing 50L (on clearance) to get started. I didn’t want to drop $200+ on a pack if we ended up quitting backpacking after just one or two trips. The Kelty pack was very comfortable, but it ended up not being large enough to hold everything that I wanted to bring backpacking. So this year I bought a Deuter Aircontact 60 +10 SL Pack and it’s been fantastic! Their SL packs are designed with the anatomy of a female in mind and even though I’m bigger than the average female, it’s very comfortable. I did a 3-night/4-day trip in May in southern Utah and it worked beautifully for all of my needs. It was very comfortable too, no issues with my shoulders, back, or hips. I love how the waistband pivots a little bit to match the movement of my hips. It also has loops and straps in all the right places to allow me to attach stuff to the outside.

Should have asked my friends to get a better photo of my pack! Obviously, it has lots of places to clip stuff to the outside.

I’m not someone who typically gets crazy loyal with a brand when it comes to products. I use a L.L.Bean Stowaway Day Pack on short hikes (even brought it backpacking), and my oldest son will often use my Camelbak M.U.L.E. backpack because it can more easily hold a water bladder. I’m sure Deuter makes comparable day packs, but those two we got for free. Lol. For everything else, I find myself grabbing our Deuter packs most often.

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.