I had a Fiskar's mat from Walmart but one day I put a towel on to iron my fabric and well I worped it so bad. :( I have not been able to get a new one for almost a year. So no cutting since then.

I finally ordered a new mat yesterday an Omnigrid which is the same brand as my rullers. I hope I have good results with it, no more ironing on my mats though I now use the ironing board.

Eleanor Burns is having a 45% off sale on olfa matts.

All the suggestions for fixing are good. However, here's a tip for the future. Make sure you have a SHARP blade.....change it often. I've used the same mat for 2 yrs.....and it doesn't show the marks. If you have a dull blade, you push down harder and it makes the slits. This is not to say that you won't get marks/slits in the mat, but it will extend its life.

I have an olfa, self healing. I looked at the olfa site as well as information from this group. Self healing mats love water. Some have soaked theirs in tubs. I have a large Olfa, and I did not think my tub was large enough. I lay out a towel on my dining room table. A soft brush, such as vegetable brush. I use the kind that is used for washing dishes, that, the top can have some dish detergent put in it.
Anyway, I put a squirt of dish detergent in a bowl with distilled water, scrub my board down. Then go over it with clear distilled water. Let it dry, then use a cutting board smoother. Board is as good as new

If you have a cutting board that is no good and make purses, don't throw it away - cut it up for the bottoms as the baggie bottoms are sort of expensive and the cut up cutting board work just fine.

Maybe it needs cleaning. Use a scruffy pad and go all over it real hard. It might be that there is fabric lint in the groves. This needs to be done often if you do a lot of cutting. If that doesn't wwrok, then turn it over. Jan

Google cutting mats. You will find mats of all sizes available for general artwork, but they are the same kind of mats as we use. Some companies have them cheaper than JoAnn. That's how I'm buying my next one.

never never buy the white cutting board. Can't think of the name of mine, (on vacation right now) Just cutting one quilt made groves,, I was not happy. I did try water, and nothing seems to help it. grrrrr

I think I will try this!! I never knew cutting mats liked water!!

Just did a search and found Speedpress.com (for those that had the 30 x 36 mat like me, it looks like that was a Dritz/Prym product and I think Olfa took that line over)ANYWAY Speedpress has the green cutting mats with standard sizes but they will also do free custom sizes! Yippee! And they look price competitive. Here's the link: http://www.speedpress.com/products/2/2