Blog Posts by Daily Grommet

Mother's Day is fast approaching -- we've rounded up some unique gift ideas and Grommets that are sure to be a hit for the Mom in your life:

Luxury Bath TowelsThe Finnish Secret. These 70% linen, 30% organic cotton "friction" towels are a specialty of Jokipiin Pellava , a 90-year-old, family-run textile business. (Starting at $21) Buy Jokipiin Pellava's towels here

Handblown Colored Glass Votive HoldersSpread The Love. A GlassyBaby is a hand-blown glass vessel that can be used as a candle holder, vase or drinking goblet. It's not only the beautiful craftsmanship that makes glassybaby unique, but also the genuine spirit of love, hope and support that each glassybaby exudes. They're truly special vessels that your Mom (Or you!) would enjoy. ($40-$120) Buy your glassbaby here

Vintage Silk ScarvesSustainable Style. It happens all the time. You're trying to get dressed and everything you own feels tired and drab. No matter your color preference, GreenSewn's vintage silk scarves and wraps are the perfect accessory, with just the right blend

It's amazing how something so simple can solve such a nagging problem.

The p Jack D'Alelio, Magic Toobroblem is lampshades that won't stay put. The solution is Magic Toob, a silicone tube invented by former chemist Jack D'Alelio to wrap around existing lampshade clips. The rubberized surface of the tubing grips a light bulb, solving the problem of perpetually crooked mini shades and chandelier shades. In particular, Magic Toob works great with spiral-shaped compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). The silicone wrapper makes it possible for rigid metal lampshade clips to grip even irregularly shaped CFLs without slipping.

Why is this important? CFLs use much less power and can last 10 times longer than Magic Toob lampshade clip adapter for spiral bulbsincandescent bulbs. They fit into most lighting fixtures formerly used for incandescents - but many of us have avoided making the switch because the spiral CFLs don't work with our traditional clip-on lampshades. To get around that problem, manufacturers make round CFLs that are shaped like old-school

Helix Lateral Aerobic TrainerNothing beats the feeling you get from a great workout, when your heart rate is up, your muscles are sore, and the endorphins kick in.

Lenny SnydermanDaily Grommet felt that high after a field trip to Revolution Fitness in Boston to test a new cross-trainer called the Helix.We got an intense cardiovascular workout - and engaged some muscle groups we didn't realize were there. And that's just what Lenny Snyderman intended when he invented the Helix. His machine delivers an intense cardio workout that's low impact, fast paced, sculpts problem areas, and, as if that weren't enough, it can be done in just 30 minutes.

The Helix uses a patented sideways figure-eight motion to achieve core and aerobic conditioning, and it's great for cross-training because the movement engages more muscles than traditional cardio equipment. Skiers, tennis players, golfers, ballet dancers, hockey players and other high performance athletes use the Helix as part of their cross-training workout.

Still, you

Gart Davis, Kim and Steven Fraser, Spoonflower Imagine one day you mused to your partner how cool it would be to print your own fabric… and then you made it happen. That's what Kim Fraser did a few years ago, when she and her husband Stephen (who happened to be an Internet marketer) joined forces with technology entrepreneur Gart Davis (right) and started Spoonflower. They built their fabric-printing venture in Mebane, N.C., near the Haw River, which was once lined with textile mills. The idea was an instant hit with crafters and designers around the globe.

Design your own fabric with Spoonflower's custom fabric printing.This custom fabric printing service lets you upload your own image to the website, arrange the design using Spoonflower's layout tools, then have the fabric made by printers specially modified to handle textiles. (Spoonflower uses eco-friendly, water-based inks on natural cotton fabrics.) It's amazingly easy for serious designers and newcomers alike to see their one-of-a-kind design dreams turned into reality.

But Spoonflower's inspiration doesn't stop there. The

Wouldn't it be swell if our dogs would wipe their paws on the mat before they raced into the house? Talk about a dream come true. But we live in the real world, wBuy Portable Dog Paw Cleaner here.here the next best thing is the ingenious PawPlunger. It looks like an oversize coffee mug and it works like a miniature car wash for your dog's paws. Simply fill the PawPlunger with warm water, place a paw inside, then plunge gently. The paw-friendly bristles inside the device brush away the grime and irritants. Voila, clean paws. There are no muddy towels left by the door, no salt or chemicals from the roads to hurt your pup or get dragged onto your carpet. And that awkward wrestling match by the sink with your best friend? Eliminated. It even comes with a spill-proof lid so you can bring it along in the car.

Buy Portable Dog Paw Cleaner here. The inspiration for the PawPlunger is LuLu, a Wheaton Terrier with a fondness for romps in Central Park. The creator is Brianne Leary (you might know her as the host of Animal Planet's Petsburgh series). Brianne

Despite all efforts to the contrary, our belongings accumulate in our homes and overwhelm us. ClutterFreeBox's mini storage rental with organizational storage solutionDon't call it junk - much of it we need to keep, such as tax records, holiday decorations, family heirlooms and sports equipment. All that stuff can be stressful, but imagine the peace of mind and the clean, organized home you'd have if you could truly manage these things more easily. ClutterFreeBox can help. It's an off-site storage service designed to not only organize and store your belongings but also make it easy to retrieve them whenever you want, using the Web.

You pack your belongings in specially designed boxes from ClutterFreeBox, then document and tag the contents. After you FedEx the boxes to the company, you can keep track of what you're storing and make plans to retrieve it using a simple Web interface (it's a little like Netflix). You can arrange to have your holiday decorations shipped back home on December 1, for instance, or to have your surfboard meet you in Malibu

Brace yourself for some not-so-fun facts. More than 10 million germs can be living on the head of a toothbrush at any given time. Those germs can cause tooth decay and gum disease (which is linked to heart disease and other health issues). Plus, viruses that cause colds and the flu can live on toothbrushes for days. And these are the instruments we use to clean our teeth and gums!

Violight UV Toothbrush SanitizersFortunately, there's an easy way to make sure those germs don't transfer to your mouth. Violight toothbrush sanitizers use the same ultraviolet technology that sterilizes hospital equipment to physically destroy the DNA of microorganisms found on a toothbrush. And it doesn't take a lot of effort. After brushing, you insert the toothbrush into the Violight device, press the button, and the sanitizing begins. The glow of the UV rays lets you know it's working to kill 99.9% of germs in 10 minutes flat.

Joel Pinsky and son JonoThe idea for Violight came after Joel Pinsky dropped his toothbrush on the bathroom floor - just hours

Eco-Me kit to make your own green, organic, chemical-free cleaning products.We've been conditioned to think it takes a noxious product like bleach to really get stuff clean. Robin Kay Levine is helping to dispel that myth, one grease spill and one dirty sink at a time. She developed a do-it-yourself kit to show people just how easy it is to mix your own cleaners using common household supplies. The main ingredients are vinegar, which can kill up to 98% of bacteria and germs; baking soda, which acts as a natural abrasive to remove dirt and absorb odors; and olive oil, which polishes surfaces without leaving a sticky residue.

Robin KayRobin was inspired to develop the Eco-Me cleaning kit after helping her sister during chemotherapy treatments and realizing how important it is to be surrounded by natural products that are free of harmful chemicals. The kit comes with three reusable containers that are marked with measurement lines on the side, plus enough ingredients to make one batch of each of Robin's cleaners. There's an all-purpose spray cleaner (for windows,