I mentioned two purchases in that last minute shopping trip to Paper Source and now I’m home I can offer a few more details.

First up is the PickMeUp.  Originally intended to be used with the Silhouette/CraftRobo machine, my first thought was “I wish I’d thought of that”.  Well, I guess I have, because for a while now, I’ve been using little pieces of blu-tak to pick up beads and other small things too fiddly to handle in my fingers and that’s really what this is

One end – the “pen” end, is actually a narrow piece of a tacky substance not a million miles away from blu-tak.  That tip can be used to pick up tiny pieces of card, paper, beads or sequins to place them precisely and I’m thinking immediately how I struggle to get tiny gemstones in place when I’m embellishing a page or card and usually resort to that bit of blu-tak. I think this is going to be the answer – a better, more controllable point which appears to be reshapeable – though I’ll have to let you know on that one.

The other end has a clear plastic double ended insert – one sharp point

the other is chisel shaped, the idea being that this end can be used to poke out small bits of cut out paper or, I’m thinking, to apply glue precisely to a point.  Yes, I’m sure I’ve got something I already use for that purpose but I guess a second pointy-chisely thing might come in handy.

The other new tool is the Slice Ceramic Cutter which claims to be sharper than your average knife and to never need sharpening or replacement.

There in the plastic housing is a tiny blade, appropriately sized for this “precision cutter”.  As I’m bad at replacing the (very cheap) blades in the scalpels I usually use, I thought this one would be great.  However, I’m not so sure that tiny blade is going to be large enough to run alongside the ruler I usually use on my cutting mat.  Add that to the fairly critical comments I’ve now read about this product online and I think the jury’s out until I give it a good workout.  Maybe it’s going to be the answer for more free-form cutting, curves and detailed shapes rather than the straight cuts which will be better made using either my guillotine or my usual craft knife.  Watch this space and see if it finds a way into my heart.

Last but not least, a little canister containing a roll of film.  Not a tool at all but a cute little way of highlighting photos on an art journal page and a very apt purchase in Studio City, don’t you think?