How to Make a Birthday T-Shirt

Maxwell turned one back in March, and we threw him a party animal themed first birthday!  He needed a festive birthday t-shirt for his big day.  So what’s a crafter to do, but make one! I’m a big fan of iron on vinyl, I made Max lots of fun onesies when he was little. So it made sense to whip up an easy birthday tee from simple black iron on vinyl I had on hand. Oh and this little photo shoot I did was on his birthday in his nursery in an IKEA bin from the shelves turned storage benches. He inspired that!

It doesn’t get much cuter then this!

What you need to make a birthday t-shirt:

• A t-shirt (I used this American Apparel T-Shirt)
• The “1” image below and this tutorial about how to upload your own image to your Cricut Explore
• Black Iron-On Vinyl
• Cricut Explore

If you have all 4 items on the ol’ “What you need” list above, this craft will take you t-minus 9 minutes from start to finish. A few tips for using iron on vinyl to make the birthday t-shirt:

• Make sure that when you place the vinyl on the cutting mat it is shiny/ liner side facing down! Don’t waste your precious vinyl.
• Be sure and press the mirror image button once you get to the Mat Preview page. If you don’t do this, your “1” will be backwards when you iron it on.
• You will ruin your vinyl if you do not use a dish towel over your vinyl image when applying heat.

And one more of Max baby in his birthday tee! (Lots more pictures from the one year birthday shoot here and all of the deets on his party animal themed birthday here.)

Have you ever made or bought a birthday shirt? I’d love to hear…