Liquid Treat

If your Memorial Day festivities will involve youngsters, convince them to join you for a flash art session during which you both draw the same comic book or cartoon character. That's the idea behind "Five-Minute Marvels" (as in Marvel Comics), a site that encourages adults and kids to try their hand at illustration and then submit the resulting collaborative artwork for online publication. The concept—"One hero. One kid. One adult. Five minutes."—is that of self-proclaimed "Marvel Smartass" Tim Miner, a father of two young girls who began the drawing sessions as a creative alternative to bedtime stories. Why five minutes? According to Miner, it's "just enough to have fun, but not enough to beat yourself up about your drawing."

Get a little anxious without your iPhone? Find yourself exclaiming "There's an app for that!" at inopportune times? Bring your addiction into the non-virtual realm with magnets designed to look like the icons associated with iPhone Apps. Available in sets of 18, the colorful magnets are great for giving your fridge a high-tech update, adding geeky flair to a file cabinet, or spiffing up the real-life mailbox of your favorite Apple fan. Just be sure to keep them a safe distance from your prized gadgets, or things could get really sticky.

Late last year, AOL swapped its tech-y triangle logo for a fresher look created by branding firm Wolff Olins: a sans-serif "Aol." backed by a constantly changing array of colorful images. This week, the Internet company launched AOL Artists, part of a broader initiative that aims to celebrate both creativity and AOL's twenty-fifth birthday. The new site shines a light on the artists AOL is collaborating with, and they started at the top, with Chuck Close. Look for his AOL-commissioned series of portraits in a forthcoming media campaign. The company has also tapped 41 artists, illustrators, designers, photographers, and other creative types to create original work that will appear behind the AOL logo. Think your work is right for the AOL homepage? Click the "Participate" tab and tell AOL about it.

Journey to the center of the color universe at the Pantone Hotel, a new boutique property in Brussels that invites you to experience the Belgian capital "through a lens of color and a spectrum of comforts." Designers Michel Penneman and Oliver Hannaert selected a distinctive palette for each of the hotel's seven floors (which range from "daring and fiery" reds to "captivating, esteemed, silky" shades of violet) and upped the contrast with clean white walls and the saturated outsized photographs of Victor Levy. Pantone consultants are on call to assist with any color crises. Our favorite touch? A rooftop bar serving color-matched cocktails. Choose from Pink Champagne (Pantone 12-1107), Lemon Drop (12-0736), or Daiquiri Green (12-0435).

Pingg wants you. The online invitation site is planning to expand its popular Designer Series into a self-service platform and market for artists, designers, brands, and charities to upload their creative content, translate it into a collection of online invitations and announcements, and connect with Pingg users worldwide. The first step is an open call for design submissions. What's in it for you? A dedicated profile page to showcase your work and link back to your personal website. Meanwhile, stay tuned for DStudio, a soon-to-launch program that will allow artists and designers to upload and monetize their work through the power of Pingg.

Sure, Crayolas rock, but the newest thing in crayons has a certain back-to-nature appeal. Meet Crayon Rocks, drawing tools that resemble richly hued stones. Designed to strengthen the tripod grip muscles to prepare young fingers and hands for handwriting, the chunky crayons are fast becoming a favorite with creative adults who like their wide, vibrant strokes (not to mention how good they look stacked in a glass jar on one's desk). Opt for a grab bag of 16 different colors of Crayon Rocks, which are made from domestically grown soybeans and colored with natural mineral powders, or splurge for the 64 pack.