Cricut Cake Premier!

Today I had a go with my Cricut Cake machine - I was expecting to have a lot of hassle since everything I'd read online had said how difficult it was to use but my first go at cutting letters out went well.
I made a two layer cake in the shape of a book and covered it with brown and gold icing for the cover and pages. I used the brown food colouring as a type of distress paint to make the book look older and added a red icing ribbon 'bookmark'.
 I cut the letters and rat out of black fondant icing. I just coloured the ready made white fondant icing from Tescos using gel food colouring. I rolled the icing out fairly thinly and then rolled it onto the cricut mat (which I had covered in vegetable oil as a substitute for shortening which is what was suggested). Once on the mat I rolled it again to make it even thinner and to give it a better grip to the mat. The letters cut first time though I found getting them off the mat and onto the cake the trickiest bit! I ended up using my Nick Nairn cook school scraper which is really thin.
I had to hand cut the rat since there was nothing like it on any of my cartridges.
I'm pleased with the result. In March I'm hoping to make a cake which is a stack of Harry Potter themed books with a sorting hat on top - this first attempt at a book bodes well.
I should say that I chose Pied Piper because I am producer for one of our school shows which is rehearsing tomorrow - the play? ...Pied Piper! I have made 80 cupcakes to go along side the book cake to feed the cast during their break tomorrow.