le•top Funny Fotos – Caption This! Contest – And the Winner is… Andrea!!!

Many thanks to all of you who accepted the challenge of sharing your entertaining and amusing captions for our Funny Foto Caption Contest. We were cracking up imaging cute little Bella voicing these comments! Andrea will receive a beautiful le•top outfit from her favorite collection – watch out for our email confirmation in your inbox soon!  Time to check out the Fall/Winter Collections – we are positive you will find something you love! Take another peek at this classic photo and Andrea’s winning caption!

Excuse me! This isn’t what I ordered.

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Drama Queen and Fashion Maven!

We recently sent our favorite Miranda, Jamee’s five year old daughter, some dresses from our new le•top Fall 2009 collection. Jamee just had to share with me how this little drama unfolded as Miranda opened the box containing the new clothes:

Miranda Gardening in Style Wearing her Kaleidoscope Drop Waist Dress

She had just come home from day camp and was overly dramatic when she saw the box with her name on it.  She proceeded to open it up (with my help of course) and said ‘Oh, mommy! These are all for me? Oh, I love them! I love them ALL!!!’ (You can insert eye rolling mother here.)

Her favorite is the Kaleidoscope drop waist dress. Her exact words were ‘My favorite is the green one. I’ve been wanting this one for a long time!’ Of course I was just looking at her askance, because where would she have seen this dress?

I know she must get it from her daddy! She is watching Cinderella 2 right now and probably memorizing new lines to try out on me…”

I got a laugh from visualizing this little drama unfold and could not resist sharing this with you. Do you have any little actresses in the making?  What fun they are! Clearly we have an entertainer on our hands!

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The Little Cottage that Grew Up!

Ruth showing off Fall 2009 vive les fleurs overalls

Ruth Hickman wanted to create something special…so eleven years ago, after realizing that her two daughters could not find the clothing they sought for their children, she decided to open a very unique children’s clothing store.  The store was located in a quaint little cottage that was over 100 years old – beautiful, but too small to house the vast array of merchandise for which the The Little Cottage is now known.

One of the things that Ruth loves about her thriving boutique is where the store is now located – The Factory – a unique retail environment with strong historical roots in the community.  Built in 1929, The Factory has been home to Dortch Stove Works, Magic Chef and Jamison Bedding. Calvin Lehew, a unique individual, bought the sprawling complex seven years ago and, after an environmental clean-up, began opening the facility in sections. Today, The Factory at Franklin has 83 tenants.  Calvin’s philosophy is simple: “The Factory is for artists and creative folks. What I want to do is bring out more of the artist in people. I want an environment here that is conducive to creativity. To be able to open a place in The Factory it either has to be creative, unique, artistic, musical or food.”  The Little Cottage Children’s Shoppe fits the bill!

This beautiful store is a family business, known for the extensive selection of top drawer merchandise, and excellent service.  Ruth’s two daughters, Julie Craig and Elizabeth Martin are there in the store to be sure that everyone has a positive experience while shopping.  Customers love spreading the word about Little Cottage’s attributes:

“This is a great store! …The staff is very friendly and helpful in both stores. If you are looking for upscale children’s clothing I highly recommend The Little Cottage!”

“This is a wonderful, wonderful store! …Very friendly staff. I can’t wait to go back after I know if I’m having a boy or a girl.”

Located near The Grand Ole Opry the store has attracted many celebrity customers, including Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter Miley (a customer since she was a baby,) Reese Witherspoon and Brad and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.  Ruth says it doesn’t matter if they are celebrities, because everyone gets the best service!

The Little Cottage is open 7 days a week.  They have an informational website and love taking phone orders!

The Little Cottage Children’s Shoppe
230 Franklin Rd # 11R
Franklin, TN 37064-2278
(615) 595-7874

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A Peak Behind the Scenes…

Hmmm, do we need a bigger office???

Although it seems as though the Fall 2009 photo shoot was just yesterday… another season’s photo shoot has come and gone! This amazing moment in time was for our Spring 2010 line. (Already spring you say?  We work well ahead of the ‘normal’ calendar!) Our model tryouts (in the biz known as a go-see) happened on July 9th. It was organized chaos with over 100 children turning out to smile and pose (a wonderful crowd!) and way too many adorable little ones – making it a very challenging series of decisions! The photo shoot for both Le Top and Rabbitmoon happened the second to last week of July. It was an exhausting week – but a fabulous success! Many thanks to everyone who assisted, especially the delightful kids! We can’t wait to share the Spring season’s collections and all the adorable photos with you but…it will have to wait. Sometimes it’s hard for us to keep track of what month, season and year we’re working on perfecting!  We are currently shipping Fall 2009 collections to our fabulous retailers, so take a gander at all the fabulous styles.

Out comes the infamous ‘tickle stick!

I think everyone wonders what happens ‘behind the scenes’ – here are a couple under-cover shots from the Le Top photo shoot.

Beware – baby ‘off’ board!

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We Love the Pitter Patter of Little Feet!

Adornment is never anything except a reflection of the heart.”  ~Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel

Children’s hearts – pure and innocent – are the inspiration for Le Top clothing.  The whimsical designs we create here bring smiles to our faces – but children cannot live on clothes alone…they must have shoes to go out in the world!  When preparing for our Fall 2009 photo shoot we looked around the market and came up with the idea of collaborating with a children’s shoe company, hopefully one with the same design esthetic as ours – the choice was easy, pediped™!  We love the shoes – and knew them first hand, since they had been the choice for many le•top and rabbitmoon outfits for Chris’s grandsons.  Anna Carpio (our Design Room manager and Technical Designer) planned everything with Penny Redlin and Lauren McGlynn at pediped™ footwear over the course of three months to find the perfect accompaniment to each outfit in our collection.  Anna says, “They were so easy to work with. They are very family-oriented like we are and have a fun, quality product. It was a pleasure working with them on this project.” 

For the current season each company will feature the other’s products in their catalogs and marketing materials. “It seemed a natural fit for pediped™ and le•top to share our collections with each other from a styling standpoint. Our collections complement each other well. I think that the result has been fantastic! Congratulations to le•top on another fabulous collection,” says Angela Edgeworth, co-founder and president of pediped™ footwear. Find the style that goes with your little ones outfit at www.pediped.com.

 About pediped™ footwear:
pediped™ footwear was launched in 2004 by Angela and Brian Edgeworth in their quest for the perfect soft-soled shoe for their first daughter. Exceptional quality, unsurpassed comfort and distinctive styling have made the award winning company one of the fastest-growing children’s footwear brands in the United States. pediped™ footwear is sold in over 2500 stores in the United States and 40 countries worldwide with an offering of more than 120 designs for boys and girls between their two lines, Originals and Flex. Originals (soft-soled shoes for newborns to age 2+) and Flex (rubber-soled shoes for children 1-6 years) are available in EU sizes ranging from 17 to 29.

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To Thine Own Self Be True!

We are very excited to introduce a ‘new look’ to our website – a look that is a delightful reflection of all the innocence, fun and whimsy that makes le•top innovative and nostalgic – upscale and hip!  This bright and happy site will showcase all the looks that we loved as children, mixed in with incredible new styles you won’t see anywhere else!  We are launching this new site to present our fabulous fall 2009 collections – appearing at discerning retailers across the United States.  Don’t miss Dog’s, Dinos and Varsity Blues! Check out the Kaleidoscope and Cute as a Button dresses and get a dose of Enchantment!

But this is just the beginning!  Become a part of the le•top community as we introduce new features – join the conversations on our blog for smiles and information – and follow our Twitter feed to be the first to hear about contests and give-a-ways.

Come and experience le•top: “Zero to Five – The Happy Years!”

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Colorado Rocky Mountain High

 

 

 

 

The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullaby… Rocky Mountain high” – John Denver

Since 1983 Tracey Owens, owner of Mountain Moppets, has had a beautiful store, located in gorgeous Colorado Springs, Colorado. Mountain Moppets appropriately derived its name from the majestic Rocky Mountains that line the entire western skyline of Colorado Springs. Tracey enjoys meeting the needs of the local ‘Moppets’ – and carving out a place within the community.

Happy Triplets

Fun with glasses

Tracey’s favorite days revolve around communication and interaction with customers in her darling little store – a haven in this beautiful region.  She loves showing off the new styles that arrive for the season and thrives on the wonderful feedback from her loyal customers.  Tracey caters to devoted customers by offering pre-sales; and creates exciting special events in her store, including drawings and contests to reward and give back.  Attractive gift wrapping is available upon request for both Mountain Moppets’ online and in-store customers. So ‘come on home’ to Mountain Moppets for a great selection of le●top’s Fall 2009 collection…and don’t forget to tell Tracey “hello!” from this side of the mountain!

Mountain Moppets Gang

Mountain Moppets is located at:
2532 W. Colorado Avenue
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
(719) 633-3473

M-Sat:  10:00am – 5:30pm
Sunday:  12:00pm – 4:00pm

If you can’t make a trip to the beautiful Rocky Mountains visit Tracey at www.mountainmoppets.com

Tracey loves to chat with customers; you can reach her by calling the store or by emailing mountainmoppets@gmail.com

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