I’m a sponsor of the EntreBlast Summer Credit Splash contest, so go sign up if you want a chance to win part of the 36,000 credits!
1st Prize – 17,000 ECs
2nd Prize – 10,000 ECs
3rd Prize – 6,000 ECs
4th Prize – 2,000 ECs
5th & 6th Prizes – 500 ECs
Good luck! 
To everyone who never enters contests because they don’t think they’ll win: if you don’t enter, you can be sure you won’t win! Since I started my blog I’ve run across many contests with great prizes, and often the only requirement to enter is subscribing to the blog via email! I haven’t won any of the BIG prizes yet, but I have won a ton of Entrecard points and quite a few high quality WordPress themes.
I’d like to send out a big thank you to all the sites that held these contests, and to all the sponsors that donated the prizes! Here’s what I’ve won since about the beginning of June, when I started entering these contests:
Thanks to all of you, I really appreciate the prizes! As you can see, I’m using the Blubs theme on Bits and Pixels, and I’ll be using the two themes I won in the Blog Premiere contest on blogs I’ll be opening soon (subscribe to my RSS feed to stay updated!). The TV.Elements theme, on the other hand, will have to wait a while before I can use it – I have some great ideas for a video blog, but I’ll need a camcorder first! 
The Entrecard credits will also be very useful for promoting Bits and Pixels and my other new blogs once they’re up and running. I have also donated 1000 EC to Entreblast‘s "Summer Credit Splash" contest that will be starting soon, with at least 20,000 EC up for grabs!
WPThemeDesigner is giving away 30 premium WordPress themes in a contest ending on June 30. Among the themes they’re giving away is “Blubs”, my new theme that I won from another competition a few weeks ago! I’m hoping to win a theme for one of my soon-to-be opened blogs :doeeyes: See under the cut for a complete list of included themes. (more…)
The contest
Click Consultants and The University Kid are giving away a Creative Vado video camera, perfect for video blogging! What I love about this camera is that it has a rechargeable battery, which is also removable so you can swap it for a fully charged one when it runs out. This is exactly what I was looking for after my disastrous experience with my old HP photo camera that would switch off after 10 seconds on fresh AA batteries. Seriously, it was that bad! 
Why videos?
Personally I prefer reading written posts because of the terrible internet connection we have in our area, and since I read quite fast it’s usually quicker for me to read a post than to wait for a video to load. On the other hand, the majority of internet users have a fast connection and so this is not a problem for them – viewing videos is much quicker and more entertaining than reading plain boring old text. Also, have you ever written about something you saw or experienced and found that words just cannot describe it adequately? Using videos solves this problem – your audience sees exactly what you see. Another advantage is that it’s much quicker to record a video than to type your whole post out, especially if you’re like me and still haven’t learnt to type properly! Right now I’m typing with four fingers plus my thumbs for the spacebar :blush:
BloggerJesse.com is a personal blog about a week old. Since it’s still so new it only has a few posts, but I enjoy reading them because Jesse’s writing style is funny and engaging – he writes as if he’s talking straight to you, and he doesn’t hesitate to say exactly what he’s thinking! And I love reading things that make me laugh ^^
Jesse is holding a contest in which you can win a free .com domain name and 5000 EC, which is just what you need if you are a blogger wanting to take your blog to the next level: your own domain name, and credits to advertise on other blogs! Actually you’ll also need a hosting plan, but he has a link to a cheap hosting company too 
The best thing about this contest is that you have a high chance of winning: so far it only has 2 entries (including me), because the blog is still so new that it hardly has any readers yet. So head on to BloggerJesse.com to see the full list of prizes and how to win.
ROCKFUSE is holding a contest in which the first 1000 entrants are guaranteed to win the ebook “Seven Ways To Live A Better Life”, and will still be eligible for the other prizes as well!
Personally, I’m hoping to win the cash prize or the “Work Smart – Get Rich” ebook. If I win the cash prize, I’ll use part of the money to buy the ebook, and the rest will go in my savings to help buy a student license for Adobe CS3, which I’d like to get while I’m still actually a student!
And if the ebook actually works as well as it says it does, then I could finally help my parents with the rent and bills, and get an apartment of my own! Well, I can dream can’t I?
PhotoshopStar is celebrating their 2nd birthday by giving away some great prizes – to enter just leave a comment here!
For those of you who have never heard of iStockphoto, it’s a site that sells quality photos, vector illustrations, flash files, and videos for use in websites, advertising, screensavers, etc. If you’re a photographer or illustrator, you can sign up and sell your own work too.
While looking for some photos to use in graphics, I found the following links which I thought I’d share with you:
StockLayouts Promo – 10 free photos from a selction of 50
HP Promo – 10 free photos from a selction of 50
Scoopt Promo - 30 free photos from a selction of 60
iStockphoto Camera Hunt – Find the 4 hidden logos to get 5 free credits, which can be used to buy anything on iStockphoto
Free Weekly Photo – There’s a new free photo every week, and at the bottom of the page are links to the previous 3 free photos
Free Monthly Vector – There’s a free vector illustration every month, and at the bottom of the page is a link to the previous month’s illustration.
Update: If you get stuck, read below the cut for the solutions to the Camera Hunt