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How to Clean Your Cricut Mats So They’re Sticky Again

by Brandy Burke

If you’re wondering how to clean your Cricut mats so they last longer and grip like new, you’re in the right place. Prior to learning how to clean cricut mats I would toss them when they lost their stick – and even though often I’d replace them with generic mats, the cost still adds up – I’d rather be spending my craft money on new supplies. Dirty mats can make your cuts inaccurate and ruin your materials, but the good news? You don’t need to toss them. With the right cleaning method, you can restore your Cricut mat’s stickiness and extend its life.

Here’s exactly how to clean your Cricut mats, step by step.

Why You Should Clean Your Cricut Mats

Every time you cut paper, vinyl, felt, or fabric, debris builds up on your mat. Over time, this reduces the tackiness, causes uneven cuts, and can even jam your machine. Cleaning your Cricut mats regularly keeps your projects precise and your wallet happy.

What You’ll Need to Clean Your Mats

I am an affiliate. This means if you click on links on this website and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting my work.

Before we start, gather these tools and supplies:

How to Clean Your Cricut Mats: Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Light Cleaning (Great for Mild Use)

If your Cricut mat just has light debris or dust:

  1. Use a scraper to gently remove paper scraps.
  2. Wipe the mat with alcohol-free baby wipes. These are safe and won’t damage the adhesive.
  3. Let it air dry completely. It may feel stickier already!

Step 2: Deep Cleaning (For Heavily Used Mats or as needed)

If your mat has lost its stick or looks grimy, do this:

  1. Fill a spray bottle with warm water
  2. Add a couple drops of dish soap
  3. Spray the mats thoroughly and let set for a few minutes
  4. Use your scraper or a credit card to scrape all of the gunk away – use long sweeping motions
  5. Wipe with an alcohol free baby wipe
  6. Lay the mat flat and air dry completely. As it dries, you’ll notice the stickiness returning.

Step 3 (Optional): Restore Stickiness with Spray Adhesive

This is not Cricut-official and may void warranties, but many crafters swear by it for older mats.

If your mat is clean but still not sticky enough, try this:

  1. Use painter’s tape to mask off the non-sticky border of your mat.
  2. Lightly mist the mat with repositionable adhesive spray (like Aleene’s Tack-It Over & Over or Krylon Easy-Tack).
    • Alt – you can also run a Zig 2 way glue pen over it
  3. Let it dry fully before use.

How Often Should You Clean Your Cricut Mats?

How often you clean depends on how you use them:

  • Light use: every 8–10 projects
  • Frequent use: every 3–5 projects
  • Messy materials like felt or glitter paper: clean immediately after use

Pro Tips to Keep Your Cricut Mats Sticky Longer

  • Use a lint roller between cuts to lift debris.
  • Always replace the clear plastic sheet after use to protect the adhesive.
    • Pro tip: Add a vinyl design to your clear plastic sheet so you can easily find it!
  • Rotate between multiple mats to avoid overusing just one.

Final Thoughts on Caring for your Mats

Learning how to clean your Cricut mats is one of the best ways to save money, reduce waste, and keep your crafting stress-free. Whether you’re a paper crafter, vinyl wizard, or just getting started, this simple cleaning process helps your mats last longer and perform like new.

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Cricut Crafts

Personalized Christmas Ornaments

by Brandy Burke

Raise your hand if you love seeing your name printed on things!

I whipped up a batch of colorful personalized Christmas ornaments to share with my family at Thanksgiving this year and they turned out really cute. These make fun little table place cards that your Thanksgiving guests can take home with them and add to their tree. You could also give them out at Christmas for a Christmas table, but then the guest has to wait an entire year to break them out of storage and use them, and I am unable to wait that long!

How Long Does it Take to Make Personalized Ornaments?

Including setting up names, cutting out the names, weeding, and all ribbon tying, each ornament takes about 15 -20 minutes once I get into my flow. The longest part really is selecting the font you want to use. If you don’t have a Cricut – no problem, you can scroll to the bottom of this post for alternative ideas.

I am an affiliate. This means if you click on a link on this website and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting my work.

Personalized Christmas Ornament Supplies

Most of the items I already had on hand in my studio – but I did need to grab white Christmas ornaments.

Personalized Christmas Ornament Video Tutorial

Step-by-Step Personalized Ornaments

Step 1: Start by selecting a font that isn’t too thin or loopy. I have a creative fabrica account and tend to source fonts for my projects there.

Step 2: Weed and transfer your design to your ornament using transfer tape.

Step 3: Cut 3-4 pieces of garland, ribbon, and or rickrac 6-7 inches long.

Step 4: Tie each piece of ribbon through the ornament loop, one on top of the other

Step 5: Cut tulle 12″ long. Fold in half and thread through the loop under neath the knots, Tie a knot over the knots. Trim the tulle to desired length.

Personalized Christmas Ornament Alternatives

If you don’t have a Cricut machine, ask for one for Christmas – that won’t help you this year though 🙂 Here are a few alternatives you could try until you have a Cricut in your space

  • Small alphabet stickers
  • Paint marker
  • Sharpies
  • Use clear ornaments instead, and handwrite or print the name on pretty paper, roll up and stick inside the ornament
  • Use black ornaments and use a chalkboard marker

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Colorful nutcracker place cards on a table
Cricut Crafts

DIY Nutcracker Place cards

by Brandy Burke

I love personalized….everything! Maybe to a fault. This year I wanted to create a nice place card for our holiday table and when I saw these unfinished wood nutcrackers I knew what I had to do.

I painted each nutcracker with a different color – one for each of my 8 family members – unfortunately at the end, I switched my mom and my oldest daughter’s colors but I think they’ll still be happy.

In this post I share the supplies I used, alternatives for you, and some different ways I think these could be really cute.

I am an affiliate. This means if you click on any link on this website and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting my work at no additional cost to you.

Nutcracker Place Card Supplies

Nutcracker Place Card Video Tutorial

I created this video tutorial to walk you through each step of creating these adorable little nutcracker place cards.

Step 1: Start by sanding down each nutcracker. I did not do this and….regret.

Step 2: Paint each nutcracker however you desire, for me, every one of them required two coats of paint, and some of the lighter colors like pink and lavender required three. You could probably make these even bolder and with better coverage by painting them with a primer or plain white paint first. It takes some time to get into all of the little spaces so turn on YouTube or your favorite audiobook and sink into it for a while.

Step 3: Measure the place at the bottom of the nutcracker so that you can cut a name to fit. For me, that was 1″ wide by 0.25″ tall. I used Cricut’s BFC Winter Wishes font because when you’re cutting this small you don’t want a lot of small loopy things to cut out.

Step 4: Cut out your guest’s names in gold matte permanent vinyl, weed it, and place it on the bottom of the nutcracker.

Step 5: Optionally, you could place a coat of clearcoat over the nutcracker so that it can be enjoyed for years to come.

Nutcracker Place Card Alternatives

Lettering – I know that not everyone has a Cricut machine, but the same effect could be accomplished with small stickers like the ones I found here. You could also use a thin gold paint marker to write names. Finally, you could also print the names on regular paper or on vellum, trim them, and glue them in place. I haven’t tried any of these alternatives, but they’re all of the options I would try if I didn’t have access to my Cricut. Any other ideas? Leave them for me in the comments.

Styles – My holiday style is bright colors (that’s really my style all the way around) but wouldn’t these look stately all black with gold names? Or in traditional red and green colors?

I just thought of one more look/lettering option – paint with chalkboard paint and use a chalk marker to write the name – then you could reuse them year after year as your guests change. The ideas are flowing!

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