sounds like maybe you're configuring the management VLAN. The management VLAN can only be one specific VLAN. You can change it from the default of VLAN 1, but as soon as you do this, it will state that VLAN 1 is now shutdown.
To create user VLANs, you do it in a different way. If the switch you've got is a 2900/3500 or similar. You're probably best advised to go into the VLAN database. If from enable mode you can type "vlan database", you will need to add the VLANs from there.
Search on Cisco.com for how to configure the switch that you have. The online documentation is pretty good.