heat press action

for the longest time after i got my heat press, i was convinced that i'd received a defective machine.  because for some reason, it would come up to the right temperature but none of my transfers would stick to the shirt unless i left it pressed down for a couple of minutes.  i knew this wasn't right, because everything i'd seen and read online said that it should only take maybe 20 seconds for the transfer to adhere properly.

one day, when my co-leader came over to drop something off, i decided to ask her if she could take a look at my machine and see if she could help me figure out what was wrong with it.  hers was working perfectly fine and we'd both bought them from the same place, so i figured she'd probably know right away from looking at it.  and sure enough...she looked at it for about five seconds and realized that it wasn't clamping down hard enough.  we fiddled with it for a few minutes and then voila - it was fixed!

ever since that day, i've pretty much wanted to heat press ALL THE THINGS.  and i kinda have...starting with about 25 shirts that i modeled after the bean's birthday party invitation.  we had shirts for all of the kids in attendance, plus a few of us adults too.  they looked like this:

i think i've shared this one before, but you get to look at it again.  i swiped the quote from a post that my xtend barre studio had recently instagrammed.  pink glitter makes everything look fancy, yes?

remember our trip to the price is right taping?  yup, made that shirt too.

the old lady's BFF rock-ell is getting married.  let that sink in for a bit.  we good now?  yeah, it took awhile for me to grasp that one too.  anyway, she's ballin' on a budget and we've been trying to help her cut as many corners as possible.  i helped her get her save-the-date cards done and used my favorite vendor to print them at a super awesome price, and then when she mentioned wanting to do shirts for her bridal party - well, you know i was all over it.  she bought some plain tees at target, i ordered some shiny silver heat transfer foil, and here's what we came up with:

she came over another time and we did shirts for her, plus her mom and the groom's mom, and she promised to send me pictures when everyone has them on.  they'll look way better with proper lighting, i think.

and with some leftover foil, i threw this together for me:

guys...i think i should do custom shirts.  i mean, cookies are fine and all, but these shirts are super fun to make too.  i even have access to a supplier that i can get everything from basic tees and tanks to hoodies and pullovers and stuff.

hmmmmmmm.