A roundup of new products and services
Resting easy
Here's a gift to pamper the body that has everything. It's the Happy Eye Pillow, a luxurious, silky-soft pillow designed to help relax your eyes and soothe your mind. The aromatherapy pillow is scented with lavender, which supposedly cures insomnia and headaches and calms emotions, and mint, said to refresh and revitalize the mind and body. It's available for $10 at Bath & Body Works in Towson or can be ordered from Tender Loving Things Inc., (800) 486-2896.
For a better fit
If you sew, you're probably quite familiar with paper patterns that never quite fit your figure. Now here's the Bonfit Patterner, a drafting and designing system with movable pieces that allows you to make a number of adjustments to a pattern. Bonfit Patterners ($59.95 each, plus $9.95 for shipping and handling) may be ordered by sending a check or money order to Bonfit America Inc., 5959 Triumph St., Commerce, Clif. 90040. To receive a brochure, call (800)874-3444.
Calling all young authors
Who needs an agent to get published? Just Write, a newsletter printed nine times a year by Joyce Almond, a Baltimore schoolteacher, gives children the thrill of seeing their literary works and more in print. Submissions don't have to be typed, but they must be legible. Children will receive an acceptance letter if their work is to be published. After publication, each author receives three free copies of his or her work and a copy is sent to the child's teacher. Submit stories, book reports, illustrations, poems or photographs to Just Write, 6400 Baltimore National Pike, No. 293, Baltimore, Md. 21228-3915. To receive the newsletter for one year, send a check or money order for $11.95 for individual subscriptions to the same address. Group subscriptions are less; write for information.
Searching for a safe place at home to stash jewelry or cash? Check out California Safe Co.'s unusual products that let you hide things in plain sight. The Los Angeles company's latest addition to its Diversion Safe line is the 10-inch plastic Flower Pot Safe. The pot's water tray unscrews to reveal a storage compartment.
The Flower Pot Safe ($24.95) comes in four colors -- blue, mauve, beige and stone -- and can be used indoors or out, with live plants or plastic. It joins a group of about 100 imaginative safes that look like cans of common household items: soda and beer, furniture wax and foodstuffs such as soup and popcorn.
The look-alike can safes, which retail from $11.95 to $14.95, are indistinguishable from real cans and are weighted to feel full, just in case a burglar picks one up.
California Safes can be found nationwide in selected department stores, gift and luggage shops or auto-parts stores. Or you can order them directly from California Safe by calling (818) 902-1490 or (800) 451-9733.
Hot Stuff welcomes contributions to this column. Please send a typed note about your product (including price and purchasing method), and include your address and phone number. Send along a color photo or transparency if possible. Mail to Hot Stuff, Sun Magazine, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21278.