a new toy

Today I got to play with a new toy.  Well, technically, it was an arts and crafts tool, but a new one to me.  This evening I helped with our annual Advent Festival at church.  Lot's of carry-in soup for supper, yumm, and Christmasy craft projects for the children.  That's where I came in.  I had agreed to help with the set up and our youth pastor said he had some things for me to cut out.  I envisioned sitting and cutting with a pair of scissors but he had something much better.  I don't know the name of this tool but some elementary school teacher might.  It was a flat tray with a roller device across the top.  A set of shaped blades imbedded in a sheet of stiff foam is layed on the tray, a few pieces of paper are placed on top of the foam and the whole tray slides left or right propelled and gently pushed down by the roller and, hey presto, it cuts out clean, crisp shapes.  In an hour, I cut out wreaths, Christmas trees, candles, bows, snow flakes, and ornament shapes.  Then, of course, we helped children assemble creations like advent calendars, using the shapes I had cut.  That was fun too.