This post is about the Magic Mat – a die cutting accessory compatible with most die cutting machines – which I bought recently and have been quite impressed with.

Now, before I begin, I will be adding a disclaimer and that disclaimer is “at the time of writing this post”. The reason for this is because, at the time of writing this post, these products have only just been released, are a physical product, are on sale and “we” (UK residents) have only just left Europe so things are still ‘settling’. It is possible therefore that any references to product style/pricing/availability may change with time.

Ok, back to the point. The Magic Mat from Scrabook.com

This is what it looks like.

What Is A Magic Mat?

According to the blurb on the official website …

This innovative cutting pad is made from a high quality self-healing material that is designed to be long-lasting when used with blades and cutting tools – specifically in your card making machine or die cutting machine. The resiliency of the material makes it the ideal surface for metal dies to cut into again and again and again. Oops, we guess the magician revealed the secret to this trick!

The Magic Mat is designed to be a replacement for one of your standard plastic cutting plates – specifically the one that gets cut into. Do you know what that means? Say goodbye to warped plastic cutting plates and deep etchings, marks, or scratches that may transfer onto your next die cutting project.

So, basically a double-sided self-healing cutting mat for your die cutting machine.

How Does The Magic Mat Work?

It replaces one of the plastic cutting plates in the ‘sandwich’ of your die cutting machine – specifically the plate that you would cut into.

Simple.

To see this in action, you can watch my video later in this post or visit the scrapbook.com website where they have answered a range of the questions which you and I are likely to have.

What Is The Point?

Well, again, according to the blurb, using the Magic Mat offers the following additional benefits …

• Avoids the marking and warping issue you usually get with hard plastic plates, meaning you can get better value for money from a pair of plastic plates over time.
• Removes the cracking sound as you wind a die through the machine.
• Gives a cleaner, mark free cut.

Can I Use A Regular Self-Healing Cutting Mat?

I can’t make that decision for you however I can say that the Magic Mat shares some similarities in construction with other self-healing cutting mats, namely that it has a layered plastic construction.

I can also say that using other self-healing mats for die cutting has been discussed online with various people cutting existing mats down to fit their machines however during my investigations I did find that the Magic Mat appears to be thicker than the other self healing cutting mats in my collection so I am unsure if this would make a difference to performance.

Also, it works out of the packet. At least in the Sizzix machine that I used it in. So, there’s that.

How Much Is It?

As I mentioned earlier, at the time of writing this post these products had only just been released and there was a special launch offer which made my purchase $12.99 – about £9.50

There are obviously different sizes so the price may differ depending on which you choose and when you buy.

What Is The International Postage?

The Scrapbook.com website calculates the shipping on a variety of factors so it’s easier if you use their shipping calculator – which you will find during the checkout process – for your specific location however I can say that for me, from the USA to Scotland, for one of the larger mats it was $6.99 – about £5 – which is VERY reasonable for international shipping.

How Long Did It Take To Arrive?

I was elated to receive a shipping notification the same day that I placed the order. From there it was exactly two weeks. In fact, it had not even registered on my “where is that package” radar when it turned up.

Were There Any Import Duties?

For me, no. I believe that the reason for this was that the value, shipping method and overall cost did not exceed the personal import limits currently in place. If you add more items to your basket, it is possible that fees or charges may apply. Obviously this could change so you are best checking for yourself.

For more advice about shopping from overseas (for UK residents), please do check out this blog post that I wrote a while ago.

A Quick Demo

So, I thought this might make a little more sense with a quick demo so, here ya go!

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Ok. That’s about it for this one.

If you have any questions or thoughts about the content of this post, please feel free to pop them in the comments section below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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Many thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon!

Bye for now.

John.

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