We breathed a collective sigh of relief when we read this post today over at Design Taxi – a lock has a finally been created to keep hungry roomies out of our beloved pints of ice cream. True, we could have used this year ago when we were sharing apartments with friends who went on occasional, heartbreak-induced binges. But perhaps it’s not to late, as we now have life partners that are known to sit down and devour a pint of Cherry Garcia in a single setting. Will it be a relationship saver or the source of unnecessary arguments. Time will tell! Called an Euphori-Lock, it was developed by a B&J fan and will be available soon.

As soon as we saw Judy Kaufmann’s vibrant Houses & Birds, we knew we had to feature her as one of Etsy artists of the month. Barcelona-based Illustrator makes gorgeous, repetitive patterns of animals, famous people, houses, cars, trees — all the things that fill our heads, everyday. Sweet and funny, they are sure to make your day. Some of our favorites include her portrait of Woody Allen and her whimsical world map. Click here to visit her Prints & Prints shop on Etsy. Her prices start at only $25 a print. Wouldn’t one be a great birthday present for your bff? We think so.

We asked Judy to share a few insights into her work and life. See her answers below!

How would you describe your work?
Repetitive, tumultuous, colorful and spontaneous.

When did you start making your prints?
In 2000, I was working at an advertising agency, and I had lot of moments of boredom. I began drawing a lot and I think that’s where my first prints came out.

How does your home/city/town inspire your work?
Barcelona is a very inspiring city. I love the fact that you’ve the sea and the mountains very close. The city is full of art history and there is great love for design.

What kinds of artwork would we find on the walls of your house?
As my boyfriend is a sculptor, he has introduced me to all his favorite artists. On our walls you can find engravings from Armand (a french artist), Riera i Aragó (a Catalan Artist) and also some sculptures from my boyfriend, Marc Sparfel.

What is your decorating style?
Marc and I are drawn to classic wood and craft-style objects, which we’ve been lucky enough to find on the street. It helps that Marc knows how to apply his skills to fixing up and treating every piece we find. We love the mix of a Nordic functional furniture and a recovered wood furniture from the sixties. We also adore our small collections of miniature cars.

To learn more about Judy Kaufmann, visit her Etsy shop.

I am one of those fanatical people who insist on having a beautiful (or at least, as beautiful as I can get it) guest bathroom. The guest room itself may be cluttered with office supplies and there may be a stack of out-of-season clothes in the corner, but by goodness, I’ll make sure your towels are color-coordinated and you have all the lotions, potions and bubble bath you need to make your stay a good one.

At the top of the “guest room musts” list for me is a great hand soap for the guest bath. It has to look pretty on the counter (without being overly girly), and have the absolute perfect scent. Not too strong, not too feminine…as Baby Bear would say, just right. So, when I recently tapped out my supply of guest soaps, I thought it the perfect time to do a little testing. After an exhaustive search, I came up with a few favorites that will perk up any powder room.

Compagnie de Provence is nearly always my top choice. They take the cake when it comes to clean, simple packaging that’s still beautiful, and their scents are fantastic. I’m currently obsessed with Pamplemousse (grapefruit), which is perfectly cool and crisp, and Figue (fig) though it smells more of pine than fig, if you ask me, making it a great men’s option. Splurge on the glass bottle instead of the plastic, and you can easily refill it once empty.

Much as I adore CDP, they’re not the budget option. For something a bit more budget friendly, I love Caldrea’s Ginger Pomelo hand wash – the fragrance is a little on the strong side, but it’s so lovely, I don’t quite mind. Mistral also makes a fantastic fragrance called Milk (it smells almost like a baby product, and would be a dream for sensitive skin). All of Mistral’s options are antibacterial as well, which is a nice touch.

Now I just have to see about replacing those guest towels.

The void created in our lives when Domino magazine folded is still there. The special issue that is on newsstands now, Domino Quick Fixes, has some of the sensibility of the original magazine, but is missing the warmth. It just leaves us wanting more. The folks over at One Kings Lane are trying to help, and have put together a week of sales inspired by the spreads in the special issue, piecing together product offerings that make recreating the looks easy. Like that ornate mirror? Here’s five more. Thinking of a whimsical wallpaper? How ’bout one of these? Like all things at OKL, this is sale is a limited time and ends on Friday. We recommend clicking around even if only for future inspiration. It’s like a decorating 101 lesson! See this link to view all the Domino-inspired sales.

Confession time: I’m terrible at wrapping presents. I always have the best intentions. I walk by Paper Source’s windows and think, “Ohhh, that’s what I want to be!” I want to be one of those people with a gift wrapping station complete with a dozen different colors of washi tape and tinsel bows. I want to present my wedding shower gift and have everyone coo over the homemade tissue paper violets perched beside the bow. But, let’s cut the crap, I never am. I don’t have the time, money, or energy to make paper turkeys to decorate Thanksgiving cards. I always end up wrapping birthday presents in leftover Christmas paper. My cringe-worthy, rock bottom moment came when I presented a baby shower gift in a slightly used Halloween trick-or-treat bag.

There is hope for me yet! A light on the end of the horizon has appeared in Wordless Design’s universal wrapping paper. The paper allows you to choose your own celebration by circling the appropriate sentiment. Not only is the paper universally usable (cutting down on having to stock rolls and rolls of specific birthday, mother’s day, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day, Festivus, etc. paper), but it’s also sharp, clean, and minimalistically appealing. Five sheets of this rad wrapping is about 15€.

We first fell with Serena & Lily when we were in our early nesting years, drooling over their serene nurseries filled with stunning textiles and a touch global whimsy. They were light and bright and there was always cute a little elephant in the scene. Now it includes decidedly grown up bedrooms, dreamy table settings and rooms styled so creatively, you could get lost in them. Their new catalog has tons for steal-worthy ideas — like the tiled stairs on the cover and artfully arranged photo collections on the wall. The newest addition is the company’s Bazaar collection, hand chosen pieces the founders Lily Kantor and Serena Dugan discovered in travels to Africa. You can read about their travels and learn a little along the way. Our favorite little elephant of the moment? This limited edition carved wall piece from Swaziland.

Russian designer Yuriy Dmitriev recently unveiled the Electrolux Bio-Robot Refrigerator. The invention promises to revolutionize the appliance world since it does not require energy for cooling products. Instead, the odorless, non-sticky biopolymer gel cools food through luminescence. Objects are placed into the strong gel, creating a separate pod for each item. The objects are kept cool thanks to the transformation of invisible infrared radiation into visible light. The gel absorbs heat energy and radiates it in a different range of wavelengths (SCIENCE!). The Bio-Robot refrigerator is four times smaller than the average conventional refrigerator and can be hung horizontally, vertically, or (most impressively) on the ceiling. The fridge is completely silent, has no moving parts, and, even if it never comes to market, is an impressive stab at innovating a product that hasn’t changed in decades. Not to mention that pressing your hands into that goo looks supremely satisfying.

Reports out of Wisconsin, Massachusetts and other northern states are saying that next year’s maple syrup crop has been been hurt by the abnormally warm winter. As this Washington Post story reveals, the big farms with machine vacuum systems are fine, but the smaller shops that depend on the traditional tap and bucket-drip method are hurting. You see, maple trees generate sweet sap when cool days the flow begins. Once tree buds start sprouting, the hormones produced in the trees spoil the sap’s taste, so collection has to stop.

We live in a town called Maplewood, and while we don’t make maple syrup here, we sure do eat a lot of it! Last week the temperatures here were close to 80, and all of our trees have buds. It’ll be a sad winter if the price of maple syrups breaks our waffle breakfast routine. Not to mention our new obsession with Brooklyn Brewery’s Mary’s Maple Porter. Needless to say, we’re stocking up on the sweet stuff. Will you?

We made it! We did it, fellow northerns! We made it through another winter! The days are getting longer, football season is over, and it’s the home stretch to spring. The only thing that keeps me sane while riding out those long, post-Christmas winter months is my stash of Tealuxe. Tealuxe is an adorable tea shop in the trendy Harvard Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts whose motto is “Tea for All”. Luckily for those of us outside of New England, they sell their artfully crafted loose tea blends online. Shop their dizzying stock of black, green, herbal, rooibos, oolong, mate, white, and decaf teas. Don’t know where to start? Check out their Teatenders’ Top Ten most popular teas or their featured teas (their current featured teas include a throat tender blend, tra que chai, and gingerbread tea- yum!). My personal favorite has to be #192: caramel crème brulee. It’s closer to ambrosia than tea.

Photo from Flickr user GenevieveL-G

photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9536434@N02/5293658295/sizes/m/in/photostream/