A Christmas Crop Funny!!!!!!!

[CeCeCreates]

Gardencat, believe me, you are not alone with these kind of problems. I recently ruined a whole sheet of vinyl as something went wrong right at the end of the cut. And of course it was the end of the cut. So frustrating. So, yes I walked away and tried again the next day. Went just fine then. Oh, after a blade change too. Sigh.

[gardencat]

Trish and CeCe...I don't intend to give up...I'm determined to get the blasted thing cut in one piece...guess I was just especially stressed about it since I'm working a couple of long days, back to back, which doesn't give me much time to craft, so I was hoping to get it finished before that...but the good thing about Christmas in July is that it still gives me six months to perfect it before real Christmas. LOL

[Trisha]

Trish and CeCe...I don't intend to give up...I'm determined to get the blasted thing cut in one piece...guess I was just especially stressed about it since I'm working a couple of long days, back to back, which doesn't give me much time to craft, so I was hoping to get it finished before that...but the good thing about Christmas in July is that it still gives me six months to perfect it before real Christmas. LOL

Exactly!! That's what I think, too! Maybe, just maybe, we'll get started on some things early enough to finish them before Christmas morning!

I was really excited to (finally!) get contour cutting (print and cut) down. There were so many things I wanted to use it for, and now I can.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[Retta]

Gardencat - That is lovely! I love how you think and designed it. I can't wait to see you succeed! Sorry I didn't see it earlier. I was having surgery and working too. Hugs and again - it is beautiful.

[Retta]

gardencat - Butterflies would work too. It does not have to be christmas. But I love this one. I had to resticky my mat to get the one I did done correctly - it just had to hold it still till I was done! I feel your pain!

[gardencat]

gardencat - Butterflies would work too. It does not have to be christmas. But I love this one. I had to resticky my mat to get the one I did done correctly - it just had to hold it still till I was done! I feel your pain!

I finally got it cut last night, with a new very sticky cricut mat that I had hanging around, never used.
It cut great, but then lifting the real thin lines off the very sticky mat was an exercise in patience and caution. Came out alright in the end.

On the good side, I hardly had to do any weeding at all. All the small pieces stayed on the mat. On the not so good side. Does anyone have any special tricks for getting a myriad of small pieces off of a very stick mat?This is what my mat looked like after I finished and removed just one corner of the stuff. Don't mean to sound like I'm whining, but I'd love to know if anyone has a faster easier way to get these off.

sticky mat.jpg

[Retta]

There was a man online and I don't know where it is - but he said the Cricut mats were way to sticky - but you wanted them just not quite so sticky - so he use to put a piece of paper on the mat. Pull it off, and kept doing it until it took some of the sticky off and he could use it better. I had to do the same thing , I use a scraper and just scrape them off or pull of one piece at a time. I'm glad it cut so well for you though. It is lovely. I would love to see the butterflies too.

[CaseysAngel]

I almost always use my brayer and I use painters tape on metal and chipboard, well and when I'm embossing of course.

[Suzan]

I use a piece of t shirt to unsticky a mat somewhat. Or you can use your hands and pat around the mat.

[LisaH]

You can use an old credit card to help with scraping the pieces off....

[Trisha]

Great job! I'm so glad you finally got it to cut well. I use the clean t-shirt to lessen the tack, and I also use a scraper (like an old credit card, I save the ones they keep sending me in the mail) to scrape off the tiny bits and pieces off the mat.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[gardencat]

Good idea with the credit card, I finally got it off using an old palette knife but if I'm doing it again I'll try the t-shirt thing first. I honestly find it harder to get my mat to the right degree of sticky than it is to get the right settings for force and speed.

[Trisha]

Good idea with the credit card, I finally got it off using an old palette knife but if I'm doing it again I'll try the t-shirt thing first. I honestly find it harder to get my mat to the right degree of sticky than it is to get the right settings for force and speed.

I had that same issue for a while. I think the bug cutter mats are rather notorious for that too-sticky thing.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[Suzan]

I had a really bad sticky and stinky cricut mat. And I had to scrub it with a nylon scrubber and soap and warm water. Then I threw that mat out, it was from a bad batch. That will also help bring the sticky back on old mats. I just use dish soap and really warm water.

[Trisha]

I had a really bad sticky and stinky cricut mat... Then I threw that mat out, it was from a bad batch.

Eeeewwww! Stinky? I would probably have thrown in out with out trying to salvage it. I think it is strange, but lots of the time bad smells give me a headache.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[CaseysAngel]

Have you gotten any of the new Cricut mats? My mom got me like 4 packages of them for Christmas and they smell HORRIBLE when you first open them. Like a really strong chemical smell. YUCK!!!!!!!

[Gigi]

OH yuck - that is awful. Mine are older so they have been ok - and don't plan on buying anymore now that the new mats are coming (are they here yet??!!??)