Liquid Treat

If you've ever spent days searching for the perfect hue or been reduced to flimsy adjectives (darker! lighter! brighter! more...Prussian!) to convey the precise shade you're after, add Chip It to your color-hunting toolbox. The free web-based app from Sherwin-Williams transforms any picture into a palette, drawing upon the company's 1,500 paint colors to help you experiment with color combinations or figure out how to match your bathroom walls to the ice cream cone, sunset, or Kandinsky canvas you just snapped a photo of on your smartphone.

Having proven that vegetarian cuisine can be exciting and delicious, chef Amanda Cohen of the NYC restaurant Dirt Candy was up for a new challenge: to combine a cookbook with a graphic novel. She teamed up with illustrator Ryan Dunlavey and her husband, writer Grady Hendrix, and two years later, Dirt Candy: A Cookbook (Clarkson Potter) was born. Daring recipes--pass the "Fennel Salad with Candied Grapefruit Pops and Grilled Cheese Croutons" -- and talking vegetables abound. Notes Cohen of one memorable panel, "In a lot of ways, Dirt Candy is my way of saying, 'Lighten up!' So a comic book with talking drunk eggplants at a bar was the perfect way to convey that feeling to readers."

Whether you're fresh from a great 2012 project on paper or wrapping up one now, consider entering it in Neenah Paper's UnShow, a competition that celebrates all form of expression on any uncoated paper (it need not be from Neenah). Unlike many awards programs seeking your attention at this time of year, UnShow is free to enter, so go for it with one or multiple projects. Online public voting will determine the top 25 entries in each of the eight categories -- which include identity, posters, packaging, and student work -- and then a jury of design judges will have the final say on who gets the cash and prizes. The deadline for entries is March 29.

It's January 4. Do you know where your 2013 calendar is? Ditch -- or simply supplement -- conventional versions in favor of a more creative take on schedule-keeping. Behold the Puzzle Calendar ($12.50 from Paper Source), a Lego-style DIY project that will last you through this year and all subsequent ones, thanks to its endlessly rearrangeable colored blocks. Add a personal touch by swapping out the numbered pieces for those printed with icons and words that can indicate holidays, trips and birthdays.

Two of our favorite things -- champagne and chairs -- come together in a festive contest from the bubbly furniture fans at Design Within Reach. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: create an original miniature chair using only the foil, label, cage and cork from no more than two champagne bottles (glue is the only permitted adhesive). Entering is the easy part. Just snap a photo of your tiny throne and post it to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #dwrchampagnechair. A panel of champagne and chair experts will judge the chairs, and three winners will receive a DWR gift card. Drink fast, because the deadline for entries in Monday, January 14.

Bookmark overload? Make this the year that you actually read, watch, admire, or purchase all of your digital finds with Pocket, a free tool that plays nice with hundreds of apps (Flipboard, Twitter, Pulse) and all major platforms, including iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. Formerly known as Read It Later, Pocket can tuck away articles, videos and Web pages. View them at your leisure, even while offline, on any device: phone, tablet or computer.