Here's a sweet newcomer to Necklace Town who is a sunny addition to the massive necklace making under way. This young lady is eco friendly, free spirited, world traveler and yerba mate tea drinker. She just had a Solstice party! I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.....

What’s your name?
Alexandra Nichols

Where are you from?
Upstate NY

Where do you live now?
Mount Kisco, NY

Do you have any other jobs?
Volunteer at Muscoot Farm, in Katonah, NY. Student.

When did you start making jewelry?
In my senior year of high school!

How much chain do you cut in an hour?
Not quite sure yet.

Do you do other crafts? What are your talents and specialties?
I'm a naturalist, and very involved herbalist. I love ceramics and painting, but don't do either regularly.

What do you want for Christmas?
Tuition! That's all. I'm a simple girl. :) Oh! And a Teleporter!

How did you find out about Necklace Town?
I got in touch with Melinda through craigslist, believe it or not.

What do you like best about working for Melindesign?
The accuracy that's involved. Also, it's nice to be surrounded by productive people. The energy is very positive.

Well Lexy, productivity is all the rage at Necklace Town! It takes a lot of happy energy to make it happen here in the USA and your positive Lexyvibes keep us going. And I want a turn on that Teleporter when Santa brings you one! So glad to meet you!

Meet Cami Burmester! Visitor Spotlight in Necklace Town

We have been VERY busy in Necklace Town. We have about 1,500 necklaces finished and shipping has started. So many great, artistic, talented people drop by Necklace Town to lend a hand and I'd like you to meet some of them.

I'd like to introduce you to Cami, who passes through Necklace Town quite often. She's a super cutie, a wicked wire wrapper and is a very accomplished painter, I love her flair for boho fashion and wears the fiercest slippers and is a major Harry Potter fan. I love her outlook and how she sees the world through Camivision. You'll just eat her up too!

What’s your name?
Colette Burmester

Where are you from?
Kent, NY

Where do you live now?
Brewster, NY

Do you have any other jobs?
I am a surrealist painter, and Gallery Coordinator

When did you start making jewelry?
I started making jewelry when I was in College. Free form wire wrapping on semiprecious stones, and it became a passion.

How much chain do you cut in an hour?
I have no idea, a lot though.

Do you do other crafts? What are your talents and specialties?
I sew, I paint,and I spin fire poi

What do you want for Christmas?
I want new fire poi

How did you find out about Necklace Town?
The PennySaver

What do you like best about working for Melindesign?
I love that I am making art in some form, I am always happy when my hands are creating.

Check out Cami's AWESOME portfolio, she's amazing. Become a fan and keep watch for new artwork, paintings and upcoming shows. She's having a show this month and you MUST check it out!

http://www.coletteaimee.com

Who Is a Subcontractor or an Employee? When to 1099 or W2

I just came from a meeting with a Certified Public Accountant. I told him about Necklace Town and all the help I've been collecting to get 13,000 orders out the door and he gave me a guideline to follow when considering one an "employee" (W2) or "subcontractor" (1099). VERY eye opening. This was sent to one of his clients, by the IRS, when a subcontractor filed for unemployment (!!!) when the temporary job was over. So for all those that aren't taking out Disability Insurance, Worker's Compensation, insurance, payroll taxes, FICA, listen up!

• A copy of any contract on which the services were obtained. If there is no written contract, please furnish the substance, in detail, of any oral agreement.
• Where did the individual work? Were they requited to work on your premises?
• Was the individual in an independently established business? If so, did the individual advertise in the Yellow Pages, or in local newspapers, craigslist? If possible, provide business cards, stationery, insurance certificates, ect.
• Could similar services be performed for others in a competitive business? Is so, furnish details regarding for whom such services were performed and whether or not they were performed during the same period services were performed for you. Are they working else where?
• Could work assignments you offer be refused? Under what circumstances could services be terminated?
• Was there a requirement to devote a specific amount of time to the services performed for you or was the time required to perform the service left to the individual's discretion?
• Was the individual covered under your liability insurance, Workers' Compensation or Disability Insurance?
• Were deductions made from the earnings for social security and income tax purposes?
• Who provided tools or supplies or equipment?
• When services were not performed for you, due to illness, ect, who furnished a replacement? Must permission be requested for time off?
• Who set the rate of pay and what was the basis of compensation, this is, hourly or weekly, or were the bills submitted according to the terms of the agreement? If bills were submitted. please furnish a copy or sample of such a bill.
• How were the sruvices obtained? Furnish copies of any advertisements, applications, ect.
• Did the individual have to call in absences?
• Were there any requirement to report at established times and work certain hours, for example, 9:00-5:00, 8:00-4:00, ect?
• Did you supervise or review the individual's work? if not, how did you insure the work was being done satisfactorily? If the work was not satisfactory, who was responsible to the customers?
• Did you provide reimbursement of expenses, and what fringe benefits did you provide?
• Did you provide training or required attendance at training sessions?
• Could the individual subcontract work?
• How free was the individual to develop their own design concepts?
• Did the individual deal directly with your clients at any stage of the project to discuss project requirements?

If you answered mostly NO to all of these questions, you would 1099 them. They would be considered a subcontractor. If you are unsure and answered YES to any of these questions or can't provide proof or otherwise, you would W2 them. They would be an employee and you would have to pay all the necessary taxes and deductions required by the Labor Department. If they find you have not followed the guidelines, you would be penalized $250.00 per employee, have to pay all back taxes, compensation, insurance from first day of employment with penalties and interest from beginning of your business. Scary!

A tough pill to swallow. So you better straighten out your employment situation before you get audited! I can explain a little more of each of these questions above and how to figure out where you might fall under so please don't hesitate to ask. I'm so glad I stumbled upon this!

I'm Giving Thanks to the Most Wonderful People in Necklace Town! Happy Thanksgiving!

Supplies have been coming in to Necklace Town at a furious pace! Over 43,000 jump rings, 18 spools of wire, chain cutters, cartons of stones, 4000 jewelry tags, 2000 bubble baggies. We'll go through this in the next two weeks and then have to reorder. Well, maybe not the jump rings that soon, but there is more on back order.

Today we chopped miles of chain. I thought I'd be sending chain home to be cut but everyone chomped right through those hanks and spools. We used up all the stones left from last week's shipment and we eagerly await the next. A lot of pieces were assembled until we ran out of lobster clasps. That's fine, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend and a tiny window that I can finally read my British Vogue while the turkey is frying.

I'm taking this opportunity to give thanks to team Melindesign. I've met so many new people in the last two weeks that just dived in and got to work on this project. Thanks to Donna and to Cami who helped guide the newbies and made them feel welcome with silly jokes, anecdotes, advice, and shared their expertise and technical know how. They even share baked goods. I had the most wonderful piece of pecan pie today, thanks to Sweet Cami! Dedicated Donna! Her infectious laughter keeps us coming up with zingers for those giggles that spill out of her while she's intently wire wrapping under her "special light" Thanks to Jill I, who puts the Energizer Bunny to shame, who has organized a top notch team at her base, with star employee Bella, the fastest wire cutter east of the Hudson River. I thank two new ladies who stopped in today who took command of their tools and got right to work. Jill D (yes! Another Jill!), seed bead extraordinaire and Maggie who whipped up 50 necklaces in record time. Will I be able to keep up with them?? Thanks to Lexy, who finally found her way to my house the other day and fit right into the groove. Thanks to Mr. B, for having the muscle to separate 233 of the toughest bike chain link and boxes of thick brass link chains. Thanks to cheery Patricia, who has drummed up her own team down county with her friend and cousin, getting it done! Thanks to Pam, who is so innovative, she comes up with nifty apparatus to make the assembly swift and easy. I love my jump ring openers! Jody, quiet and swift, who mastered perfect the tough stainless steel wire on her own and came back to show me a bouquet of perfect rounds. I love it!

I give thanks to the jewelry designers that have the vision, the creativity, the innovation of making their art work here and making a living at it. We want to fill their every need to be able to not have to outsource jewelry assembly overseas. I give thanks that they want to keep it in America and we want to give them the confidence and support that they can. Thank you!

These wonderful people have such enthusiasm that is intoxicating. They want to see this succeed. They're doing something that they love to do, or have done in some form or another in the past and are coming back to it. Creating something by hand and getting rewarded for it is so satisfying. Doing it around like minded people, doing it in the comfort of their homes. And all coming together to make this work here, at home, in the USA. Thank you!

I give thanks from the bottom of my heart to my husband, Michael and my son, Simon. Without them, I would be lost. Michael has helped me so much with my inadequacies on the computer, business sense and common sense. I'm stubborn but he's right 99% of the time. Thank you Simon, who has surpassed my wildest dreams, watching you grow into the the wonderful, successful, kind, generous, HELPFUL beyond belief, young man you've become. What a blessing all of you have been to me. Thank you!

We Have a Winner! I Spy Game 4

How funny is this! Someone came for an interview today and she did the I Spy 4: Halloween Special: Find the Broken Bone this month and found the broken finger! I gave her her prize, which turned out to be her birthstone earrings too. What a nice treat to do that. I also hired her and what a wicked chain cutter and assembler. I'm so glad she answered my ad! I'll have more on her in an upcoming Necklace Town Employee Spotlight.

And the winner is:

Margaret T of Lagrangeville, NY

Thanks for playing, Margaret!

Keeping the Local Economy Going in the USA at a Place Called Necklace Town

No one won the last I Spy. Do keep your "I" out for a special holiday one. My broken finger is getting better, albeit a little sore. I've canceled the rest of any doctor's appointments with their unnecessary tests, x-rays, MRIs, and cat scans. They couldn't do anything for it and I didn't feel like throwing any more insurance money away. It was so inadequate that had I not actually heard the snap of the bone, I would have just iced it, taped Popsicle sticks to it myself, and waited it out.

Thankfully it has healed enough for some serious work that has come into the studio very recently. A HUGE job, compiling of many thousands of necklaces, final figures aren't in yet. But we've started! We are going to make this happen, produce these necklaces, all here in the United States. We're going to improve our local economy by hiring MANY extra hands in the coming weeks. We're hiring housewives, stay-at-home moms, musicians, students, artists, part timers and full timers, what ever anyone can give us. We're cutting miles of chain, opening thousands of jump rings, wire wrapping spools of wire and threading on truckloads of stones. We're buying dozens of pliers and timers, baskets and baggies. We're buying lunch once a week at local restaurants. We're ordering thousands of multiple products from companies in the United States from printing paper, bubble wrap, boxes, and stickers. We're shipping via the United Stated Postal Service.

We're sending people home with bundles of chains, stones, and directions so they can save gas on commuting and be there when the kids come home from school so they can be more productive and give us a hundred finished necklaces a week. We're doing it with a lot of people so we can have twenty times a hundred every week. We're meeting the most friendly, funny, personable, hard working, ingenious, creative people almost every day. They are telling their friends and neighbors of this opportunity and they are coming forward to lend a hand, learn a new vocation, learn of this awesome thing that is happening. It has made my head swim but we're staying steady. We are going to help our local economy, expand small businesses and keep it all in the USA. And meeting great people to boot!

In the coming weeks, I'm going to introduce you to these new employees of Melindesign and let you know of the progress of Necklace Town. If you live nearby and want to lend a hand for extra Christmas money, contact me! To date since Thursday 11/18/2010, we have finished 284 necklaces and 200 other styles just waiting for crystals to pop on to be shipped.

I Spy Halloween Special: Find the Broken Bone!

Last night for Mischief Night, I went to see Saw 7 in 3D. It was the same Saw as all the others and I didn't think it had to be in 3D. Are they doing more 3D to get more money in ticket sales? Although I do know they use more specialized cameras but there didn't seem to be enough gore flying at you to warrant the 3D glasses. But the ending did leave you to believe that this may not be the Final Saw....

But that's not what this I Spy is about! After I came home from the movie, I was ready to settle in for the night and knock out just a few more pair of earrings for a big order. I jumped in my PJs and came downstairs and slipped on the last steps which caused me to slam my hand against the stair railing where I heard a pronounced "snap". Just like the sound of bones snapping in several scenes of Saw 7 I just witnessed just a half hour before but this was for real. Searing, stinging pain. And anger at myself for being so stupid as to cause any sort of damage to my right hand, my number one tool in what I do for a living. Do I have to think about insuring my hands now??

So simpering over to my dozing husband Michael on the sofa, I blubbered "I think I broke something." and he took one look at it and said, "Let's go to the emergency room." Fun! Emergency room on a Saturday night, Mischief Night of all nights.

2 1/2 Hours later I was on my way home with x-rays and a throbbing appendage. No sleep that night, even with the special pill the Doc gave me. But I did come up with this I Spy and thought it so fitting for All Hallow's Eve. A special edition! I am okay, and I'm working around it, albeit trying to avoid smacking it into anything is a little rough. It smarts when you tap it! I have to go see an orthopedic doctor this week as the hospital didn't feel it warranted calling in one to take care of it then and there.

I Spy: A Broken Bone

If you click on the picture, it will blow it up more. The first person who gets it right, will get this fabulous prize! For November Babies, a pair of sterling silver 6mm Heart Shaped Citrine Zirconia Euroback Earrings. Please e-mail me at melinda@melindesign.com with the answer. Please don't leave the answer in comments (but comments are appreciated) because I'd like others to play the game too. Immediate family members and past winners are excluded. Good Luck!