Amazing and Wondrous Ebay WIN!

I am so chuffed.

My state of chuffedness relates to a recent Ebay win which was delivered this morning....

Can you guess what it is yet?

Tah Dah!

How exciting is THAT!  It's a Crafter's Extreme Cutting Kit and it is, quite simply A. Mazing.

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a bit of a cutting mat geek.  Followers of my FB page will be aware that in advance of my new miniature classes which are due to start in June, I've been doing battle with my collection of cutting mats, degunking them and generally scouring them clean of all the stuff which miniaturists get on them.  

The list is long.... glues (assorted) paint (acrylic - easy to remove, enamel - not so easy) pen marks (ditto) and various other unidentifiable debris.

An initial long soak removes most of the stuff, and a subsequent scrub with cream cleaner deals with more stubborn stains.  What's left is then treated with white spirit, acetone and as a final all-out attack they go in the dishwasher. 

Whatever stains remain after all of that are obviously hard core truly permanent marks, which are possibly impervious even to a small thermonuclear device so I have to reluctantly accept that they're there to stay.  Nevertheless, those mats are CLEAN.

You could eat your dinner off them, except I wouldn't let you.  Nothing should besmirch the pristine surface of a newly cleaned cutting mat.

So. Anyway, I have a number of ordinary cutting mats, now cleaned to within an inch of their lives.  I also have my 'best' cutting mat, which I bought when I did my workroom makeover and strive never to actually cut on in case I mark it.  It is on my desk, and very lovely it looks, but when I'm working I always put one of my standard mats on top of it to protect it.

Did I mention I was a bit of a geek?  You can probably add a dose of OCD to that description too.

Which is why I will not be using my new all singing, all dancing cutting kit quite yet.  I only took it all out of the protective packaging to get a photo of it.

All the bits are new and shiny and the mat itself is COMPLETELY UNMARKED.  There is not even a waffer-thin cut on it yet and I shall have to steel myself to put the craft knife anywhere near it.

But I digress.  I have yet to describe the wondrousness of it all.

It's a big mat (17" x 14") and it holds a cunning secret.  

It is MAGNETIC!  How awesome is THAT?  It has an embedded metal sheet so any magnet will stick to it.

The kit also includes an 18" magnetic ruler which holds really firmly onto the mat, stopping it from sliding when cutting.

But the wondrousness doesn't stop there......

There is also a magnetic twist trimmer with straight blade cartridge.  To be honest, I haven't read the instructions yet so I'm not quite sure what it's for but it's something to do with a hidden blade so you can't cut yourself.

Then there's the magnetic scoring blade cartridge which will make super-crisp folding lines.

Not to mention the ergonomic comfort grip, precision art knife, with loads of spare blades.  

Now the wondrousness goes stratospheric as there is also a magnetic ultimate circle cutter, which I'm presuming cuts perfect circles in any size. And it comes with spare blades too.

And last but not least there is a set of magnetic posts to hold projects in place on the board while glue is drying etc.

Honestly, I cannot believe the amazingness of this kit, and if, like me, you spend lots of time doing precision cutting etc you will appreciate just how amazing and wondrous it is.

Sadly, if you want one too (and why wouldn't you?) you're a bit buggered, as apparently they have been discontinued.  They were made by a US company so there may still be some available over there but you might just be lucky and find one on Ebay UK.  Presumably the seller of mine was so overcome by the wondrousness that she never had the heart to even unpack it, as everything was still factory sealed.

I have a project in the offing which will require me to use my new kit but in the meantime I will clear a space on my desk so that I can admire it.

I should probably get out more.......