Monday, September 26, 2011

Au revoir

Thank you, all my followers and visitors, for going on this blog journey with me. It's time for me to bid you all ado ... as I turn my time, energy and passions to the "next big thing" or two or three.

I plan to keep this blog "alive" in cyberspace and not delete it, but this will be my last post.

I also plan to periodically visit other blogs that focus on Paris and France, because the City of Light and my experiences there will always be near and dear to my heart, as well as all the wonderful things I've learned from my friends here at Five Months Until Paris.

Until we meet again ...

Cynthia

Monday, September 19, 2011

In Front of The Louvre, Part Deux




I've repeated this scene more than once on my cards; maybe it's because I love it so. It's based on a photo I took in front of the Louvre last September.

The Louvre is so immense and filled with so many treasures, it would be difficult to take them all in on one afternoon's visit to the Paris museum. And since I am in Pennsylvania and the Louvre is thousands of miles away, I keep up with the museum's exhibits on Facebook ... and you can, too.



You can follow the Musee du Louvre in French or English - or both.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Of course, there must be an Eiffel Tower ...

I am so excited to announce that I've finally have some Paris-inspired cards available at my Honeygo Beasley Cards shop on Etsy, and more are to come.

 This one features a photo I took outside the Louvre.
 And of course, there must be an Eiffel Tower card.
This is a small, stylized Eiffel Tower card. I'd like to make some more that are a little more realistic and some that are even more jeweled up!

Here's another rendition of my French Croquembouche wedding cake card.
 It is sooooo poofy and creamy with billows of white fabric, I want to eat it.
 It even has a tiny Eiffel Tower on top!

More of my designs to come ... this is just a start. Tell me ... how do you like them? Is there anything special you'd like to see?

Monday, September 5, 2011

Finished Paris Wedding Card



How do you like it?

Next, I am going to make some jeweled Eiffel Towers, Marie Antoinette shoes, and other pretty Paris-inspired card designs. Can't wait to share them with you!

Friday, September 2, 2011

A Paris Wedding

Work in progress, Honeygo Beasley Cards by Cynthia Maniglia - Paris Wedding
Getting married in Paris ... to me, that would be the ultimate in romantic destination weddings. For a real life Paris wedding, take a look at the parisian party blog.
Honeygo Beasley Cards
 Mon amour pour toi est aussi grand que le monde.

(My love for you is as grand as the world.)
Honeygo Beasley Cards
Always ... the kiss. Kisses are the unspoken words of love.
  Que mes baisers soient les mots d'amour que je ne te dis pas.
 
Honeygo Beasley Cards




Thursday, September 1, 2011

Eiffel Tower & Lightning - An Electrifying Paris Skyline Shot

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Friday, August 5, 2011

How Prosperous Parisians in the 18th Century Woke Up

Wall clock (pendule d'alcove), movement by Charles Voisin, clockmaker; clock case made at the Chantilly Porcelain Manufactory, about 1740. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 81.DB.81
Wake up to the sound of beautiful chimes from gorgeous clocks like this, now on display at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. You can read all about it AND get a free ringtone for your Smartphone on The Getty's blog in an article by Jessica Portner. I higly recommend. You will be transported in time, literally, to the enchanted world of 18th century Paris. Enjoy!

P.S. How do you like that snake at the top of the clock? : )

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A Visit to a French Country Estate in the Normandy Region

In September, it will be a year since I first visited Paris, and I realized I haven't even told you about **EVERYTHING** I saw and did there. My recent conversation with M-T of The French Touch reminded me of this. And so ... here I am, to show and tell you more about my trip to Paris.

One rainy and chilly September morning, we took a train outside of Paris, to a country village in the Normandy region. We were going to visit friends of our tour guide at a country estate. Before walking to their estate, we strolled along the village streets in the early morning; it was just as the village was preparing itself for a weekend outdoor market.
 The village was beautiful even with the morning rain!
 We walked with our umbrellas past very old buildings ...


And we paused to admire the architecture and go inside a church that dated back to the 11th century.
Before visiting our hosts' home, we picked up baked goods at a local shop in the village. This is where I bought my first package of macarons!
Notice one of the baked goods is named "Le Normand" - after the region. Wonder what it tastes like? I didn't get to find out. But I loved the macarons~

Within a short distance, we approached the country estate ...
 There, we were greeted by the horses who stood regally amid the apple trees.


Once inside the estate, our guests treated us like long-lost family. This was a personal and private experience one cannot get by booking a trip on Expedia.com - simply priceless.

Our hosts' were somewhat celebrities in their village, having generations of family history rooted in its soil. Politics, hunting, and international pursuits were akin to this family, who treated us with generosity of spirit and were so kind to open their home to us.

We learned about the French hunting tradition - which differs from the English in many ways, such as the French horses don't jump over water as the English do, they go through it. We heard the different bugle horn calls for the chase ... what each set of notes was meant to convey to fellow hunters and to sound off commands to the dogs who assisted them. One of the woman in our group played the piano in the hall and we stood around to sing some songs. It felt like being with family at the holiday! How nice to have that feeling so far away from home, in another country, with people I had only recently met.
 "All for the horses," the woman of the house said to us as she and I walked by these boots.
A giant pumpkin that the woman of the house harvested right before our visit sits on a stoop overlooking the back of their property.
After spending time having a lovely cocktail hour with champagne in the sitting room, we were treated to a delicious yet simple veal stew meal.
 A side table with a pretty, colorful arrangement catches the eye!
Dessert was our baked goods from the village and fromage - a trio of local cheeses from the region that were so fresh, you could taste what the cow grazed on before it was milked; in one case, my taste buds detected cabbage! With a pallet like that, I knew I'd be good at the wine tasting event in Paris, which we were going to attend on our next jaunt.

I hope you enjoyed revisiting this country estate with me. Until next time, bonjour!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

My hat is a Featured Design on the Henri Bendel website!


Click to see my hat design on the Henri Bendel website - and if you like it, click the like button. The winner's design will be created and sold by Henri Bendel stores.

Henri Bendel is a women's specialty store based in the Big Apple and established in 1895. They have locations in Miami, Detroit, Dallas, King of Prussia, LA and more other cities throughout the US.  

The retail store's founder, Henri Bendel, was a milliner (hat maker) by trade and the first retailer to bring the designs of Coco Chanel over to the United States from Paris.

That's why I designed a hat for this contest!


Above is just a cropped shot of my design. Click to see the larger sketch online at the Henri Bendel site. And thanks in advance for your vote!

Monday, May 30, 2011

French Crown Jewels & Royal Tiara Cards

The surviving French Crown Jewels, principally a set of historic crowns now set with decorated glass, are on display in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre, France's premier museum and former royal palace, together with the Regent Diamond, the Sancy Diamond and the 105-carat (21 g) Côte-de-Bretagne red spinel, carved into the form of a dragon. In addition, some gemstones and jewels (including the Emerald of Saint Louis, the 'Ruspoli' sapphire and the diamond pins of Queen Marie Antoinette) are on display in the Treasury vault of the Mineralogy gallery in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.
Do you love royal jewelry? The recent wedding in Britain put the world in a royal state of mind.
Honeygo Beasley Cards by Cynthia Maniglia
Honeygo Beasley Cards by Cynthia Maniglia

Honeygo Beasley Cards by Cynthia Maniglia
I've been making cards! Here are the royal tiara cards, based on actual Royal Wedding Tiaras from around the world.

Hope you had a royal kind of weekend!

Friday, April 22, 2011

What's your royal wedding guest name?

Start with either Lord or Lady. Your first name is one of your grandparents' names. Your surname is the name of your first pet, double-barreled with the name of the street you grew up on.

Yours most sincerely, Lady Beatrice Shotsie-Bartlett
 

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Talbots and Paris

Ah, how nice that I can extend my 50th birthday celebratory trip to Paris in the fall with Paris-inspired fashions in the spring! I am love, love, lovin' the Talbots line for spring. You can view/shop Talbots' April 2011 online catalog here.

Some things I bought:

The Sorbonne Tweed Sheath Dress
This tee in this color - I am wearing it right now!
And I love this color - plum - I bought this top with a matching flyaway cardi. 
Can't wait to wear it!

From the BBC series on Paris, Blood and Chocolate (Part 2 of 3). Enjoy!

Streets of Paris - I shot this the day I left Paris, on a rainy September morning.

Small group Paris tours for women