For Cricut Lovers: new mats

I just received a new tweet from Provo Craft....Remember the green mats for the Cricut machines?  They went by way of the Dinosaur about 1 1/2 years ago, and people were left buying the white mats with the black stripes on them.  Ever wonder what those stripes are for?   If you own a Cricut Imagine machine, you will know that these stripe are for the printing portion of the full on Cricut Imagine experience and it helps guide the mat a paper in, and it help the machine know where to print..  I personally thought that it was great that all the machines, except the cake machines, which received their own food grade mate, to have one mat.   Well not so fast, friend, it seems that it did not sit so well with Provo Craft, so as of today there will be three new lats for the machines.   Each one of these mats will be be fore the different types of paper that are associated with them.  I assume that the white mat will still be available for the Cricut Imagine, or I am in big trouble when the ones I currently have are no longer usable.

Light Grip mat
copyright Provo Craft and Novelty

I will have a review when I try them out (money is a little low, and I am not sure when they are available to the stores)
First up is the LightGrip mat.  (Light Blue) It is for those papers, which are light to the touch.  they are the printer paper, vellum, and other papers that can be easily torn,

Standard Grip Mat
Copyright Provo Craft and Novelty

Second is the standard grip mat.  (Green) This mat is for your stand pieces of paper like patterned paper and cardstock.  This is the paper Cricut white mats are used for now.  
Lastly, there is the heavy grip mat (Purple)  This mat is for you heavy materials such as fabric, light metal, and chipboard.

Strong Grip Mat
Copyright Provo Craft and Novelty

Personally, I am glad that PC did this, but it makes you have too many mats.  I understand why.  Currently, I always feel frustrated if I just cut out something, and it tears because the adhesive is too sticky or when the paper moves because the mat has been overused.  Maybe they have solved that problem as well.   I will not get a better feel for the new mats until I have tried them out myself.   I want to try them on both my E2 (Expressions 2) and my E1 (Expressions ) machines.  However since they do not have the black lines on them, so, I can not try them on my Imagine machine.
You can order them now on Cricut.com, but at this time I have no idea when they will be released to the stores.

Below is a chart I got from their website: www.cricut.com   Have a blessed evening.

Paper comparison chart
Copyright Provo Craft and Novelty