Midweek Mutterings - Challenges and Contests!

New monthly challenge is up at Art Bead Scene - Farbstudie Quadrate (Color Study of Squares) by Wassily Kandinsky. This is an abstract work, with so many colors to work from, it should be a fun challenge. I hope you'll participate. (UPDATE: here are the prizes)

The May Rings & Things raffle was won by commenters joia & Beadsophy. There will be a June contest announced today (they say it will be "a very exciting contest").

Speaking of contests, I got an email from Artbeads today about the Use the Muse II beading design contest which they asked me to share it with you, as they are sponsoring it.

I wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know that Artbeads is sponsoring the Use the Muse II beading design contest. We think this is a fabulously fun competition that you and your blog readers would enjoy.

What makes this so much fun is that every entrant receives the same assortment of components including beads, crystals, pearls, silk and seed beads plus a mystery muse component that they must keep secret until the “BIG REVEAL.” At that time, everyone gets to see what the muse is and photos of what the entrants designed with it.

The contest was created by Scarlett Lanson who has a regular column in Beadwork magazine and has won some prestigious contests herself. She placed first in the 2009 KGI Wordwide Design Contest and fourth place in the 2007 Swarovski “Create Your Style” competition. Scarlett’s goal was to create a competition for all types of beaders; stringers, bead weavers, and embroiderers, that had a shortened timeline and a big payoff. There are some very nice prizes including prizes for first through third place and ten category prizes. The cost for the entry kit is a very reasonable $30 plus $5 for shipping in the US and $10 for international entrants.

Scarlett is also holding a weekly giveaway just for bloggers who help promote the contest. To learn more and find out what the prize is for this week visit:
www.thebeadersmuse.com/blogger-rewards/

One important thing to note is that there are a limited number of kits available and they will likely be gone before the order deadline of June 27. So, if this sounds like something you would like to do or blog about please keep this in mind. Plus, the sooner you sign up, the more time you will have to work on your design before the July 18th entry deadline.

To learn more and check out what happened in the first Use the Muse II contest, visit Scarlett’s blog here:www.thebeadersmuse.com/use-the-muse-contest2.

UPDATE: just received this additional info from Artbeads - you can be entered to win a special prize if you blog about the contest:

I am excited to see the Use the Muse II contest kick off and am looking forward to seeing the new designs from all the entrants. Please be aware if you are entering the Blogger Rewards contest on the Use the Muse site you would need to have your blog posted no later than Friday June 5th to be eligible for this weeks prize, you will also need to contact Scarlett by email to inform her that you want her to track your traffic from your blog post. For info on the Blogger Rewards contest please follow the below link:

http://www.thebeadersmuse.com/blogger-rewards/

Good luck to the entrants!

Tomorrow is my Thursday Feature: Reviews and Interviews - please come back!