We announced our newest reader challenge in the July 2009 issue of BeadStyle. The "animal instincts" challenge asks you to take a walk on the wild side and design jewelry with an animal theme.

The page showed a plethora of fun animal beads to get your creative juices flowing, and also displayed Cathy's own animal project: earrings using a mouse bead (from JP Imported, jpimported.com) and a wire earring cage.

Many of you have called or emailed us asking about that earring cage. The cage is from Fusion Beads, 888.781.3559. The earring cage is directly available on their website, fusionbeads.com.

Want to participate in this reader challenge? Send a JPEG of your animal-inspired piece to editor@beadstylemag.com by August 20. Tell us your inspiration in the body of the email (inspiration can be literal, like an animal bead, or something more symbolic). Finalists will be published in the January 2010 issue, and you can vote for your favorite on our website!

Remember, voting for the jewelry box challenge runs through July 9, 2009. Have you voted yet?