My wife just got her Cricut yesterday and we are trying it out first time today. When we set it up to cut out a phrase, we noticed that it also scored the mat. Is this supposed to happen? Also, does the machine know where the fondont is on the mat and cut accordingly to that or should we have the entire 12x12 covered?
yeah it will score the mat that is normal. I would read through the whole book of directions first then play with it, the button to the far right with the arrows will allow you to move the blade to a starting position, so you don't have to roll the fondant to any special length, just make sure the image you are cutting isn't larger that the fondant you rolled out, it's not a big deal if it goes off the fondant but then you will just have to roll it out again.
Thanks for the quick reply. We did actually read the book and watched the video. When I set the mat in, I did move the knife to the fondont and it cut fine other then scoring the mat. We forgot to place the fondont in the freezer for a few minutes as we have read and our design did come out with a little rough edges. Trial and error though.
Yes there is a life span for the mat. Depending on what you are cutting and how deep the blade cut is set, its good for about 25-40 cuts per mat. They tell you to buy several and rotate them. Thats what I have read in the CC forums and other places. H 
ave fun , and I love mine Cricut Cake
actually as I posted before, yesterday i went to michaels because they were having a demo and I asked the same question because I read this post before, and the lady told me that the mat was supposed to be good to do thousends of cuts before you have to change it, and that you just have to change it if the mat has a hole in it, and that the blade you just have to change it if it starts tearing the cuts. Hope this helps.
I went to ACMoore and purchased some extra mats. I was happy to see that they have a really long mat available.(the size of 2 reg mats put together) I love my cricut cake! I cut some cute crowns for cupcakes this weekend and they were a big hit at the party. Have fun!
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