Custom ‘They See Me Rollin’ Lyric Shirt Gift {Tutorial}
Struggling to find the perfect custom gift for a toddler? Then dust of your Cricut and make this “They See Me Rollin'” throwback lyric shirt – the perfect gift for toddlers (and their mamasf).
**Includes a complete Cricut tutorial**
Who doesn’t love a custom t-shirt for their little one, especially when it includes rap lyrics from the mid-2000s?
I am absolutely loving all the throwback shirts for toddlers I’m seeing lately.
But with all the cuteness comes a price. I don’t know about you, but the boutique price tags on these shirts are a little too steep for me. In true Natalie Menke fashion I’d rather drop a paycheck on all the crafting supplies and equipment needed to make custom shirts myself than pay $30 at a boutique for a t-shirt my kids will likely stain after the 1st use.
Makes total sense, right?
How this lyric shirt for toddlers tutorial came to be
A recent bout of freezing cold temperatures gave me an excuse to stay home with a hot cup of coffee and tinker around with an idea I had in my head for a couple of kids’ gifts I needed for upcoming birthdays.
I knew I wanted to put a spin on “They see me rollin'” lyrics (see what I did there?), but I hadn’t decided on the graphic I wanted to use.
My first task was to scour the internet for cute images of kids’ toys of the wheeled variety – box cars, wagons, scooters, and bikes with training wheels, all of which would have made equally adorable shirts, but I settled on a standard tricycle.
I found an image file I liked over at clipartlibrary.com, so I went ahead and converted it to a SVG (cut) file for my Cricut Explore Air 2.
Of course, you could always purchase a pre-made svg file, but where is the fun in that?
I promise it’s not hard to customize and make your own. I’ll show you how below. Just be sure you are not using this file for commercial use!
Lyric Shirt for Toddlers – The Perfect Custom Gift!
These shirts are custom gifts for my nephew and my best friend’s son , who both turn one within a week of each other.
Truth be told however, they are more of a gift for my sister-in-law and my BFF. Hopefully they bring a smile to their faces as they unwrap them.
Even more, I hope the shirts draw compliments and chuckles from like-minded mamas at the playground, daycare drop off and grocery store checkout line.
If you are interested in making your own custom “They See Me Rollin'” lyric shirt for toddlers, follow the step-by-step directions below.
If you prefer visuals, check out my video on Youtube.
This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through them, I may receive a small commission from a third party at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own and I only share links to products I personally use, love and trust.
Step 1: Gather your Supplies for your Lyric Shirt for Toddlers
- blank t-shirt or onesie (I used this one from jiffyshirts.com)
- Black Cricut Everyday Iron-on vinyl (or your favorite heat transfer vinyl)
- Cricut EasyPress 6”x7” (or a standard iron)
- Cricut Explore Air 2 and cutting mats
- Weeding tools
- Cricut EasyPress Mat 16″x20″ (or thick towel)
- additional font (See step 2)
- tricycle image (See step 3)
Step 2: Download font & upload it to Cricut Design Space
I used two fonts for this project: Cricut Sans, which comes standard in Cricut Design Space, and Bebas Neue. Bebas Neue is not a standard font in Design Space, but you can download it for free from dafont.com and upload it to Design Space for use. The text “They see me” is Bebas Neue and “Rollin'” is Cricut Sans.
Download directions:
- Go to Dafont.com and search for “bebas neue” and click on the gray “download” button to the right of the font.
- Once the zip file has completed its download to your computer, open the file and double-click on the “Bebas Neue-Regular” TrueType font file to open it.
- Then hit the “install” button at the top of the document.
- Once the install is complete, open Cricut Design Space and select your new font from the font drop-down menu. (If you are already working in Design Space, you’ll want to refresh it or log out and back in so you can see the new font selection).
*My apologize for Mac users, I’m a Windows girl. I’m sure a quick google search will produce thousands of videos for you though!
My shirts are 18-month sizing, and you can see me final text sizing in the images below:
Step 3: Download & convert the tricycle graphic to an svg file
Directions:
- Download the image to your device
- Open Design Space and in a New Project, click on the Upload button on the left sidebar.
- Click on the Upload Image button and then the Browse button to navigate to where you’ve saved your image.
- Once selected, your image will appear in the Upload Image box and may or may not be surrounded by gray and white boxes. These boxes denote “white space” that will become the background you cut away.
- Select the image type on the right of the screen as Simple. Click on the Continue button.
- Now you are able to add negative space to your image. In my case, I wanted the tricycle image to be cut out, so I clicked on the white background area to make it gray and white check. I also wanted the white of the wheels to be cut out, so I made them checks as well. Next, click the Continue button.
- Click on the Save as a Cut Image button and add/modify the image name and add tags to your liking. Don’t forget to click Save!
- Now your image will be saved to Recently Uploaded Images under the Upload tab.
- Finally, click on your image and hit the “Insert Images” button, which will take you back to your canvas for further manipulation.
Step 4: Arrange the text & image in Cricut Design Space
Again, my shirts are 18-month sizing, so my final design – including text and tricycle image – is 5″ x 7″.
Step 5: Cut, weed & press your design
So there you have it. Pretty easy, right? I welcome your questions in the comment section below. I’d love to hear about your custom t-shirt project!
Feel free to comment or tag me on any images you post to Instagram.
AS ALWAYS – IF YOU NEED HELP BRAINSTORMING OR CREATING A CUSTOM GIFT, PLEASE REACH OUT TO ME! I’D LOVE TO HELP!
More later, the craft room is calling and I must go…
OTHER LYRIC PROJECTS YOU’LL LOVE:
Love this. Cannot wait to see & read more! You are so creative!
Thanks, Suzi! Hope E loves his shirt!
So cute!!! And you’re right, handmade gifts are fun to make and receive!!