New York is hot in August, and so is Boston, but it's

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hard not to enjoy the bustling, dynamic big city life. We walked the Freedom Trail, dined in Beantown's very Italian north end, and visited the Harvard Natural History Museum. I could have spent an entire day in the mineral room looking at gemstone specimens.

Barb goes to Harvard and enjoys an audio program at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Style report: Bostonians love the classics, such as pearls, chains and small pendant necklaces. New Yorkers are bolder, wearing bigger, brighter beads, long, loopy chains and plenty of unique, customized jewelry. At the hotel desk in N.Y., the clerk showed me her great charm bracelet and told me that she is a regular reader of Simply Beads.

I visited a pearl warehouse in New York's Bead District with bead rock star and friend Laura McCabe, helping her tote around a dish tub of colored pearls for kits. We celebrated our last night with the Broadway show Spamalot, which was ridiculously fun. Since our flight left late the next day, we went to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) to view an exhibition of Salvador Dali's paintings, drawings and film collaborations. I will never look at the color blue the same way again.

It was an inspiring trip, lots of jewelry, beads, theater, good friends, laughter, history, architecture and four different, delicious preparations of red snapper.

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A Cause for Shopping
Many retailers donate a portion of their sales to charity. For instance, each purchase of my favorite chocolate helps endangered species. This works perfectly if you support the same organization as your favorite vendor, but donating to good causes is a personal act, so why not just donate to a specific charity? Now you can do both at the same time.

GoodSearch.com and GoodShop.com allow buyers to donate to any one of 60,000 organizations by searching or shopping online. GoodSearch donates roughly one penny to the user's designated cause for each online search. This Yahoo-powered search engine is free to users; works just like any other search engine and prices are exactly the same as buying direct from retailers. GoodShop donates up to 37 percent of each purchase! You can add your favorite local charities to ensure funds are used in your own community.

Due to the struggling American economy, Newsweek predicted nonprofit organizations will see decreasing donations, especially from middle-class Americans. Searching the Internet for books, plane tickets or even office supplies can generate a few pennies of donations to your favorite charity. Click, search, shop and donate with GoodSearch and GoodShop.

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Sherbet Swirls Design by Sandy Parpart Pretty shades of pink swirl and twist in these memory wire earrings that look good enough to eat. Materials Pink Czech glass mini bead mix (includes pink seed beads, pink E beads, and white and clear bugle beads) 6 (2-inch) silver head pins Silver jump rings: 2 (4mm), 2 (7mm) 2 silver ear wires Bracelet memory wire Round-nose pliers Chain-nose pliers Heavy-duty wire cutters or memory wire shears Finished Sizes 3 inches long Project note: Memory wire is hard to cut and will damage regular wire nippers. Always use memory wire shears to cut wire coils. Instructions 1) Cut one coil, plus 1/2 inch from memory wire. Using round-nose pliers and referring to Fig. 1, form a loop at one end of wire. Note: Forming loops on memory wire may take some time as it is difficult to do due to the strength of the wire. 2) String a mix of beads onto memory wire; this can be done in a pattern or randomly. 3) Referring to Fig. 1, form another loop at end of wire. If needed, trim excess wire. 4) Slide 1 inch of assorted beads onto a head pin; use round-nose pliers to form a wrapped head-pin loop above top bead. Set aside. Repeat twice more. 5) Open a 7mm jump ring and slide on beaded head pins; attach jump ring through both loops on beaded memory wire, forming a hoop. Close jump ring. Beaded head pins should dangle through center of hoop. 6) Open a 4mm jump ring and slide on assembled hoop; attach jump ring to ear wire. Close jump ring. 7) Repeat steps 1-6 for second earring. Source: Beads from Blue Moon Beads. Copyright © July 2006 Simply Beads magazine. All rights reserved. Back to top. Click here for printer friendly page.

Put Yourself on the Payroll
Students often ask how much I would charge for a class project if I were to sell it. My project pricing is based on the cost of materials plus the amount of time needed to complete the design. A key factor in that formula is how much I choose to pay myself for the time. I try to be clear that it is important to pay yourself a living wage that compensates you like any job.

If you make jewelry to earn extra cash, be savvy. Do you have a wholesale license? Licenses require filing business taxes, which can be easy or complicated, depending on where you live. Business cards, a Web site, bookkeepers, license renewals, display stands -- there are a lot of overhead expenses involved in a simple jewelry business.

An inexpensive, well-designed spreadsheet is available from Eni Oken at Enioken.com. The form makes it easy for business owners to calculate wholesale and retail prices. Finished spreadsheets can be easily modified to keep up with changing prices. You create your own formula for materials and labor, and several pricing scenarios are provided as examples.

Tools make our lives simpler, whether we're talking about ergonomic pliers or a spreadsheet that determines the final price for a pair of earrings. Remember, your most important tool is your creativity, don't undersell it!

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