Yes, You CAN Use Cricut Mats With Silhouette Cameo!


One of the challenges with the Cameo is that not all craft stores sell Silhouette products, and sometimes you need a blade or mat or whatever NOW.  Not in however many business days plus shipping and handling... RIGHT NOW!  This is where I found myself while making 200+ invitations and needing a new mat.  I do believe my local Michaels sells Silhouette products, but I was at Hobby Lobby getting cardstock (I had already bought up everything in the color I needed at JoAnn and Michaels!) and Hobby Lobby only had Cricut supplies, so you see my dilemma.  I bought a 2-pack of 12x12 Cricut mats on sale for $9.99.  They also had one light grip or one super grip for $10-14, so the 2-pack was the obvious choice for me.

When I got home, I lined up the Cricut mat with my Silhouette mat to see the difference.



In this next photo, you can see the black line where the top of the paper would go on the Silhouette mat is a little higher than on the Cricut mat.  The Cricut mat has a small shaded border around the white lined grid...


So I lined up the paper along the top of the shading , but left the shading on the side exposed.


You can see it is still centered on the mat.


Here is how it loads into the Cameo, the edge of the mat lines up with the edge of the roller, and paper lines up with the thick part of the roller... 


Look at the other smart thing I thought to do, since the protective cover for the Cricut mat is clear...


I thought I might have to adjust the blade settings since the Cricut mat is a little thicker but I didn't.

Since the Cricut mats might not all be the same, you can use your Silhouette mat as a reference like I did to find the correct placement, you could even draw lines with a Sharpie so you don't forget.  

If you have anything to share about using other brands with your Silhouette, by all means, leave a comment please!

And if you are smart enough to plan ahead, I'd love it if you used my affiliate links to get yours mats on Amazon!


9 comments:

  1. Just found your post via a google search because I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday and noticed they carried 2 24x 12 matts for $18, and I was wanting to see if they would work with my silhouette machine. Thank you for your help by posting photos! I am pinning this to my SILHOUETTE CAMEO board!

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    1. Thanks Lucy! I googled it while standing in Hobby Lobby and paid it forward too! happy cutting...

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  2. Any suggestions for when you need a blade?

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    1. Hi Darla! If you need one right this minute, I think Michaels carries Sikhouette products, and Hobby Lobby has some too. But for the best price I would stock up during a Silhouette sale online or buy from www.craftvinyl.com they usually have a blade special for $6.95 (don't quote me on that!). It's definitely good to always have a few blades on hand.

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  3. I too found your post while googling while in Hobby Lobby looking for a new mat...lol

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  4. Hi Ladies! Have any of you tried the DIY idea of using the cheap Dollar Tree flexible cutting mats as mats for your Silhouette? I ran across that idea a while back while just browsing all the great Silhouette blogs and tutorials online and it looked really workable. I haven't needed a new mat yet as I am just beginning to learn to use my machine, after having it for over a year! Trying to free the pinch roller to slide to accommodate my vinyl ( which is my reason for buying the Silhouette in the first place lol) nearly made me want to throw it in the back yard! It seemed impossible to release and I finally was able to dislodge it with the point of a knife blade. Then the skewing of my vinyl further intimidated me to the point I decided this thing was waaaay too smart for me to learn. So it sat while I happily went back to my woodcrafts, sewing and zillion other interests. Finding out a close neighbor friend had a Silhouette motivated me to try again and I am happy to say I feel optimistic and confident I can start utilizing some of the MANY benefits of this neat cutting machine! Thanks to all of you who share all you have learned!!

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    1. I haven't tried any other mats but I have re-stickied the mat with repositionable glue!

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  5. I have the Cameo and Portrait. I do have Cricut Mats, Silhouette mats and the dollar tree cutting mats... they ALL work

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    1. What kind of mat can you use from the dollar store?! This is exciting :)

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Comments are very much appreciated!