It's true! The rumors on Pinterest are true! And it is super easy!! There is one product you need to make it all happen....to bring the sticky back to your mat...over and over! I searched and searched...read Cricut forum after forum....and there were several products mentioned...many swear by them. I chose one....the one I found the be the most used....and I gave it try. The product? ZIG Memory System 2-Way Glue. One of the post I saw about this product claimed I would already have it on hand....but in reality....I had never heard about before. I still consider myself a newbie to this scrapbooking/Cricut/paper craft world....so, yeah, I had to go shopping!
I found this amazing product at Hobby Lobby...list price $6.99...coupled with a weekly 40% off coupon...I paid less than $5 for this bottle. I had a long struggle on where to find it! My first thought was to go the glue section of the store....I was mistaken...I even considered that Hobby Lobby may not have it! Thankfully, I was not shopping alone and my fiance thought to see if there was a glue section in the scrapbooking section of the store! Sometimes having a man around....can really pay off (just told him I said that!). In the scrapbooking department is where I found this little bottle of miracle sticky-ness!
So, here are the step-by-step rules to bringing your cricut mat back to life!
1. CLEAN your mat! Some folks (maybe even you) have the tool kit...I do not...I haven't discovered a need to spend the $20....but I am coming close to it! I used a paint scrapper to get all the tiny pieces of paper and animal hair that had been stuck to the mat. I think wiped it down with a wet paper towel. I have seen people go all out with a sink of soap and water or take a butt wipe to it. What strikes your fancy....just clean that bad boy up!
2. Let it dry! You are going to want a dry surface to mess with, so after you are done cleaning it....be sure it's dry before you go applying new glue to it.
3. Get to work! You will need to press down on the tip of the zig (against paper...not with your fingers) until the white tip is covered in blue....the blue stuff is the glue! Once your glue is a-flowing...cover the entire grid of your mat with it! It only needs one layer of the stuff but make sure you don't miss any spots. The first few strips won't be even so you will have to glance over the area and be sure the whole thing is wet.
4. Air drying the glue. What makes this stuff work is letting it air dry. It is a 2-way glue. If you place the glue down and put something on top of it....it will stay there! If you let the glue air dry....it will become a re-positional stick....which is essentially what was on your mat originally. You will know that the glue is dry when all the blue hue is gone...this took about 15 minutes for me but I have read that it can take up to 20.
5. You are ready to rock and roll! This stick is better than the original stick and now the only reason you will have to buy another mat is if/when you cut on it so much it is useless. I have 6...that's right...6 mats! Because, frankly, I was clueless to the ability to re-sticky my mat...I didn't even know it was an option! Know that I do....the money I am going to save this year is going to be massive!
Owning and using a Cricut is expensive business...the cartridges are not cheap....which is why my list of "I wants" is much larger than my list of "I haves" and anything that makes being a cricut owner cheaper....I am down for! There will be sales on Cricut brand products soon....there always is this time of year...I will keep you all updated on those...because having a Cricut is like owning a Dyson....it's the best thing to have in your home!!
~Brandie
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