A visit to the Norwegian opera and ballet in Oslo

A few months back, during one of our stays in Norway, we went to see the new Norwegian opera and ballet that is located in the heart of Oslo and is quite an astonishing building. As my Uncle works there we were lucky to have him guide us and show us the fun and fascinating backstage scenes and rooms. It was SO interesting to see what happens behind the curtains and get a glimpse of what technicalities and preparations are needed for a show/performance. The outside of the opera is unique and cool, and architecturally and photographically very interesting, as I am sure the pictures beneath will show:




my boys on the "roof"


Mats in the painting room (where they paint the backgrounds for the different scenes)


Jonas between the paint buckets.

when the scenes are painted, they copy little pictures like these and transform them into a huge scaled painting. Not an easy thing to do.


Here are the dresses prepared and ready for the Swan lake ballet. I loooove these....


Mats is looking around the backstage and finding many interesting things to keep an eye on.


Fascinating architecture details from inside the opera

Here is Mats testing one of the seats inside the hall,


and then a fun technical detail from somewhere backstage


And here an overlook picture of the hall. Looks kind of cool without all the people in it...


Mats and Jonas outside. This pic shows how the building is placed close to the water and the buildings around are being mirrored in the windows.

Have a great weekend, dear readers!!!

Bergen visualized

Two weekends ago there was a Papirgleder designers meeting in Bergen, and this time I was lucky to have beautiful weather and for once NO rain! Yeah! So, on saturday, Beate and I took the bus downtown and acted like tourists (and photographers), took the "fløybanen" (what a beautiful view!) and visited "bryggen" which is a must of course. If you never visited this city, put it on your list of "places to go to", just make sure you have good weather (which can be a problem....say no more). Beate was the perfect model and posed voluntarily on all pictues, he, he.. I posted more pictures from this weekend on the photoblog.

...so here is Beate on "bryggen":


here we are on top of the "fløybanen":


overlooking the fjord and the islands....


inside the "fløybanen". Look at that view....


cutie, putie...


and here the view from inside the "fløybanen" and from the bottom and up to the point of view


and here an authentic fisher man on "fisketorget":

There's a cute new challenge blog;

....That's just so cute, and this month I was asked to guest and host a mini tutorial/technique for them. So if you are interested in learning a fun, artsy and cheap technique you should check it out here. I figured out this technique myself and it has been picked up by and showed in Creative Keepsakes in "tips and tricks", August 2009 and also in Creatief met foto's Dec./Jan. 08/09. It was an honor to be asked to guest TJSC, and I LOVE the different layouts the design team made, and I am SO impressed by the different ways they used the technique. If you participate in the challenge (make a layout using this technique in any way you choose and with an autumn theme) you are SO in to win this RAK from me:



Thanks for having me girls, and I look forward to seeing some cool designs out there....

And I am happy to have my hubby back with me after 1 week on business trip in Asia....off to socialize...have a good week!

Hi, I'm off to Bergen and Norway.....

...for the yearly happening at Papirgleder. Just for fun this time and looking SO much forward to it. And really hoping for NO rain this time...., please...Before I'm off, I would like to share this layout I made some time ago, using some of the newest Sausan designs stamps (school set). The picture is of Lotte on her way to her first day of Kindergarden after the summer holiday (and SO very ready for it....:)). I first stamped the images on cardstock and then cut them out to use them as embellisments (added with 3D tape). Have a great weekend!!!!

New article at Papirgleder......

...so if you are interested in tips about the use of crepe paper, you should check it out here.

And I just posted some pictures of Lotte in her new knitted jacket that I just finished, on the photoblog. She loves her jacket SO much and asked me to take her picture. That resulted in a fun photo shoot just outside our house and the neighbours ugly garage:) Can you tell she enjoyed it???? Cutieputie.....

Big news.......

....:



It's Norwegian, it's cool and it's FUN! It's a house filled with creative rooms for scrapbooking, card making, knitting, photo, cooking, interior and so much more and the doors open TODAY. There will be competitions and prizes. It's a place to hang out and meet new friends, share, learn, get inspired. If you are Norwegian or you read and understand the language, I hope you will join us in this new exiting venture, so pop over and check out all the creative girls living there.... Most of the time I will be living in the photo room, but you might also find me in the scrapbooking- or the knitting room or.....:)

And I almost forgot; there is a blog as well and a chance to win one of the 8 awesome RAKs at the house warming party. I would pop right over if I were you....:)