Anyone who knows me very well knows that I am becoming very
environmentally conscious. I have 3 garbage bins one for recycling, one
for compost for our own garden and one for garbage. I am very
hesitant to throw away any glass or plastic container that I think I can
use for either storage or to make a new item for the store. NO, I am not becoming a hoarder! I have
supported and marketed for Cartridge World Lawrenceville, for years. They have the
coolest concept for recycling old ink cartridges and reusing them thus,
reducing the carbon footprint significantly. Upcycling seems to be what I get the biggest kick out of. I recycled old bottle caps for a year and now I am making cool bottlecap jewelry.
The business model seems to be changing. I've been giving some serious thought to our name. Jennifer (Jen) is
now teaching full time and having a very full year. I am busy with my
daughter Savannah and her senior year. as well as taking my dad to his
many doctors appointments and therapy. It has been challenging at best
to get a new business up and running, make new items and get them ready
for sale. We are totally online now. We have left the "booth" concept far behind. JenCin
Antiques seems to be adding very few actual Antiques defined as anything older
than 100 years . Anything 20 years or older (at least according to Etsy) is considered Vintage, since
Jen started teaching as Antiques are really more her "thing" than mine. I am
more into the upcycling and repurposing of discarded items into
something new and beautiful. JenCin is ever evolving so now I am pondering; To Change or Not to Change? That is really today's question. My personal focus seems to be shifting to more handmade and remade items. The words that come to mind are; Upcycling, Refound, Repurpose, Refinished, Remade, and Vintage. These are the items seem to dominate our Etsy Store as do Unique new pieces of Jewelry on our Ebay store. When I google the word Untique you find no defination at all.You do however, get a lot of pictures on, Etsy, Pinterest, Flicker and Instagram and a really cool reference to a whole roadshow called "The Untique RoadShow" that seems very very similar to the concept of what I love to do; Find something old and discarded and make it into something new, unique and beautiful.
A quote from their website video: "Recreating Found Furniture into stylish One-Offs; Reuse, Restyle, Refound, " and this one: "Revealing the value of things left behind."
Refound Online I love that, but it is theirs so I will just give them credit for the awesome and perfect description of what I love to do. The handmade items and upcycling these are the products that seem to be a bigger part of our business focus as we
move into 2014. I am considering the pro's and con's of changing the
name to: (horns blowing) wait for it..
JenCin Untiques, or possibly adding a second sister business The other thought is to relabel our current sister business; Gilbert Consign and Redesign to
Gilbert Untiques. I'd love feedback and comments. I'd also love to add you as a subscribers to our blog.
Pardon all the caps. It is my attempt to draw emphasis to certain words in this article to make my point. How did that work? I love to write almost as much as I love to recreate and redesign so please share my blog with others and subscribe below. You can get an email update when I blog and comments are welcome, but please be kind. I'm also all about positive and good manners being a true southern girl. :-) Thank you for reading and helping me ponder this new name idea.
Til next time, Cindy
Anisa Taylor was my friend. I loved her. She was an amazing woman and a beautiful spirit both inside and out. She was loved just reading memorials on her fb page is an amazing tribute to who she was. You may have seen in the news the story about the woman found in her car in a park in Lithonia and that her husband has been arrested. Everyone who I know who ever met Anisa loved her instantly. I did yoga with her for three years at the coffeehouse I owned in Lawrenceville, GA. I have funny stories and amazing memories of knowing her and am feeling her loss so much even though we hadn't seen each other for a while. That is how awesome she was. I know that she would want me to do what I can to help her children who are now parent-less really. They are with their grandmother and need our support so much. I am hopeful that the funds will in some way help them to get through this. Anisa home schooled all 4 children so not only have they lost their mother they are about to enter a whole new way of life. I post this blog in an effort to appeal to your sense of compassion and empathy for these kids. The fundraising link is available here on my site and I am again posting the link in this blog. Feel free to share this link with all your friends and consider just a small donation whatever you can to help them. Do not use the wells fargo reference the account was compromised this morning only use the link listed below or contact me directly for a cash donation. 
