Rules for Mother's Day Giveaway

**** GIVEAWAY **** To celebrate Mother's Day CRADLE WILL ROCK would like to giveaway a custom Avery dress in your size. To enter, you simply need to LIKE my FaceBook page, share this photo and leave a comment. At 2:00 p.m. PST next Wednesday, April 10th, I will randomly select a winner from those who comment. Good Luck Everyone!!!! ~One comment per person please~ ~This Giveaway has no association with FaceBook~ Link to my FB: https://www.facebook.com/CradleWillRockBoutique?fref=ts

Good Afternoon Everyone

Hey everyone sorry I haven't been blogging to you lately I have just been so busy with the move and all my sewing. I am pleased to tell you that I am fully settled into my lovely home in California and back on the road to success with all my funky creations. Since being back I have been enjoying the beautiful weather and the beach almost everyday and sewing as much as I possibly can. I have have been going to the all the local boutiques and working with store owners and managers to get my clothing sold in their stores. Recently I have been selling my main products at farmers markets and the energy has been amazing. Being welcomed back by all my friends and family and finding so much support has been so inspiring. Moving back and being reunited with so many of my old friends has inspired me to even expand my line!! This spring I will be releasing my new line of adult womens clothing, so now not only will your children and neices look adorable but their mommies and aunts can look just as fabulous. A new expansion has also opened my mind into searching for the new perfect location to sell and design my new and imporved look. Not only will buyers be able to come to the store to browse and chat, but they will also be able to put in a custom order to be ready in only two hours time! I am excited to be starting this new journey in California and I will deffinatley keep all of you upated. Have a wonderful Friday!

Cradle Will Rock Designs

Hello everyone, I can finally sit down and write on my blog, I have been very busy with CRADLE WILL ROCK DESIGNS I have a new website that is up and running,I have been adding new things daily So be sure to come and take a peek at the new site. I am EXCITEDto share with you some of my favorite BOUTIQUES Who I believe set the trends for boutiques to follow Of course one being CRADLE WILL ROCK DESIGNS!!! I am OBSESSED with vintage inspired childrens clothing and here are some of my favorite Childrens Boutique's Cutie Couture has just the most addorable clothes I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it! They offer vintage inspired childrens clothing,Monkey tee's is another one of my favorite Designers also including Bridgette and Company, Cotton Laundry, Shake Up Snow Designs offers FABULOUS Hair candy for your little Darlings. I would also like to include AIM PHOTOGRAPHY she is the absolute best in what she does, Anyone looking for a photographer she's the one for you! BRADLEY MARLOW DESIGNS whom happens to be my best friend is the most FABULOUS designer in kiddie and adult couture jewlery. Fun fresh and fabulous that is these designers please take a peek at my FAVORITE CHILDRENS DESIGNERS!!! Thanks for supporting CRADLE WILL ROCK HANDMADE ORIGINALS!!

Shameless Plug

I am posting this because I am proud to have it printed. Also it may share a little more about me in more journalistic terms! Let me know what you think!

Source: Smiley Pete Publishing

Kiddie Couture
Cradle Will Rock keeps kids hip with unique threads

by Tess Simon

June 28, 2011

Lexington, KY - Across the country in Orange County, Calif., Rhonda Smith had established herself as a well-respected children’s clothing designer at her boutique, Cradle Will Rock. The first outfit she ever made was featured on the cover of US Weekly, and the store was frequented by celebrities. MTV even brought in cameras one day to take a tour of the boutique. Yet despite Smith’s incredible success, when she took a two-week vacation to the Bluegrass, she felt like she was home. “I fell in love with Kentucky,” she said. “When I got on the plane to go back, I felt like crying because I loved it here.”

Upon her return home, Smith made the decision to pack up the profitable business and move it with her youngest son, Christian, to Lexington. “I thought it was a good idea to raise Christian here because it’s all-American and it’s different,” she said. “It’s quaint, and everyone knows everyone. It’s a community.”

Swapping her boutique’s bustling California location in favor of a healthy community environment in Lexington was not the first major life decision made with her son in mind. In fact, Christian was the inspiration for Cradle Will Rock nearly 11 years ago. “When Christian was a week old, I was strolling down a main street [in California] and there was a place for rent,” she said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to open a baby store. I’m going to take my baby to work with me,’ and that is how it all began.”

In June 2009, Smith opened her Kentucky location in Victorian Square, but after 15 months, she decided to relocate into Chevy Chase, where sales have picked up and Smith can walk to work.

While the boutique has relocated across the country from its original storefront, its fundamental concept is the same: to provide hip, handmade and often one-of-a-kind clothes for kids.

Smith’s innovation and natural talent for design can be seen in all of her clothing. She began her career with only a couple of sewing classes under her belt, yet she made her first piece without even the help of a pattern, merely envisioning a vintage pillowcase as a dress and pulling out her scissors. Now her craft begins by visiting Lexington’s several antique stores, where she said she “always scores” with items like Chenille bedspreads, vintage hankies, tablecloths and blankets, all of which inspire and inform her designs. Back in the shop, she cuts and sews on a table pulled into the middle of her store, welcoming customers when they enter. She sells everything from clothes for babies and young girls and boys to baby essentials, like washcloths, breastfeeding covers, blankets and silk-screen-printed onesies.

Perhaps even more impressive than Smith’s innate vision for fashion and goal to provide handmade, hip clothing is her strong commitment to support local artists. Smith makes space in her store to feature customizable jockey silk paintings by Jamie Givens, a local painter and designer who also created the boutique’s eye-catching wall murals. The back wall of the store is covered in artwork for sale by William Brown, an artist with One World Art Collective, which assists in the professional artistic development of adults who have been diagnosed with a cognitive disability.

With the reception the business has received in Chevy Chase, Smith has dreams of expanding the boutique to other locations and eventually franchising. A large part of this expansion plan is centered on her desire to preserve the lost art of sewing. She hopes to employ college students, stay-at-home moms and grandmothers who want part-time work making clothes. “I don’t need to take it to a manufacturer in L.A. and get pennies on the dollar,” she said. “I’m not doing that. I’m trying to say, ‘Hey, who wants to sew and help me make kids’ clothes?’”

Though the store operates with the same goals and values as when it was first opened, Smith has noticed a difference in her Kentucky and California clientele that extends beyond celebrity. In Lexington, Smith said, “little girls are little girls. They dress and act like little ladies.” Smith said she likes that compared to Los Angeles, mothers here prefer traditional clothes for their children. This has lead Smith to design more pieces with embroidered initials, polka dots and ruffles. “I love traditional, but I’m trying to put a funkier twist on traditional,” she said.

Smith’s transition to Kentucky has been made easier by her new family of Lexington supporters. Smith showed off a card that a little girl had recently drawn for her of a Cradle Will Rock original dress that her mom had purchased. “I don’t even know these people; these are customers that come in that I’ve just met,” Smith said. “This is a little girl that just loved my tank dresses, and thought they were cool. This,” she said, holding up the card, “this is cool.”

Cradle Will Rock is located at 814 Euclid Ave. For more information, visit www.cradlewillrockonline.com.

Men's Health Dads : Parents : The 100 Best (and Worst) Places to Raise a Family

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