There is a terrific article over on Mashable about sponsorship is a smart way to monetize a blog. Here's an excerpt explaining why:

For the companies it is a win/win situation at they aren't having to worry about constantly verifying stats or paying through the nose for ad words in order to get good placement. Additionally they would know that they are in fact reaching a market best suited for their products rather than being thrown into some rotation pile of ads that could show up anywhere.

For the blogger it gives them a chance to promote products and/or companies that they believe in. They also know that the ads will represent products or companies that are of interest to their readers who are probably fed up to the gills with ads (if they don't block them out) that are of no interest.

I'm sure you've seen that CW makes use of this form of monetization on several of its blogs and so far it is doing quite well! Sponsorship is definitely worth looking into. You'll have to contact potential sponsors and sell yourself-that is, convince them that sponsoring your blog will be good for their company/service/product. It won't be near as easy as simply signing up with an ad network but the rewards can be amazing!