Jan. 15th, Prompt #33

Thank you for making Gutter Girlz what we are. An AMAZING group of women who dare to share the dirt in their lives. Just by being you, YOU are a member of this gutter. You don't have to BE anything. You don't have to SAY anything There isn't any "special" way to be part of what we do. We aren't a bunch of celebrities. We aren't better than anyone else. We/YOU are simply YOU. Moms, Wives, Sisters, Aunts, Single Ladies... You bare parts of your souls that alot of people consider off limits. I want you to know that it's in that sharing that you reach out and touch people's lives in ways you may never imagine. YOU all were at the start of a scrapping revolt!! YOU all have stood up in this nasty, dirty gutter and said that it's about YOUR lives. The clean parts, the shiny parts, and the dirtiest of dirty parts. You have told it like you know it. As you live it. No matter what it looked like, and that, is what makes you beautiful.

We're adding a NEW gutter girl to our AMAZING list of Dirty Girlz Designers!! She's been a player here for a while now, and as most of you who visit often know, we choose our design team and our guest gutter girlz from those of you who take time out of your busy days to stop and play with us. This girl is no exception. She's been down and dirty with the best of you here in the gutter, sharing herself in pages that make me smile every time I visit her. When Kris told me she needed a break from the Design Team, I really wasn't planning on replacing her, but Margrethe made me reconsider. I know she will be a great asset in encouraging all of you to be brave and get dirty.

Margrethe Aas Johnsen: Stavanger, Norway
OnLine: PapirDiva, mercurygrrl, drinking-mercury
Gallery: HERE
BLOG: HERE
Favorite Cuss Word: Do I have to choose just one?! Bitch and/or cunt
Please explain what "being in the gutter" means to you. Getting in touch with my REAL feelings, and letting the world know. I have a huge problem with raising my voice in real life, letting other know my opinion, but online, and through scrapbooking, I've become better at it. Also, I'm not a very vocal person, so the journaling aspect of scrapbooking is just excellent, as well as titles.

My creativity comes and goes. I "majored" in art in high school (which works a little bit different here than in the US), and used that as my springboard to photography. After doing that for 2 years or so, I was introduced to scrapbooking. Sure, it was fun enough, but since I don't have children, I never knew what to make pages about. Then I found Gutter Girlz, and knew it was ok to be a bit self-absorbed. I'm still learning how to use this art form to vent and get everything out in the open, and I continue to try and get others to do the same. Scrapbooking isn't just about the good days, but all aspects of life.

GUTTER IDOLS: Everyone? Seriously... everyone. I admire anyone who does something different from how I use to do it. I love looking through other people's galleries. I especially enjoy those artists who are able to mess with paint and glue and whatnot. I'm still trying...
Are you READY!?!
THE PROMPT:
Kiss My ASS
THE SONG:
Bad Reputation by Joan Jett
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE:
Chain
Our guest designer this month also happens to be our end of the month mojo Inspiration Spotlight!! She decided to share her creation at the end of the month with her inspiration interview!!
Here's what the Girlz created.
MARGRETHE
I really struggled with this month's prompt. All I could think about with regard to the lyrics, was the situation with my in-laws and how we go from one disaster to the next. And, I didn't want to make a layout so specifically about that, as I did last month. I guess, for them, I'm the recipe for catastrophe. I do what I want to do. I'm continuing my education (going for MA in Art- and Cultural Science) and not settling down being a jr. High teacher, popping out kids. I guess what I wanna tell them, is that they can kiss my ass! (And it gave me a chance to use my new Epic Six ;) )

BECKY
My best friend in the whole world turned out to be not such a good friend. I had as much of the lying, stealing and everything else she managed to do and said that is it. I'm done. I've had this picture in my room for the last 10 years...I felt it was time to take it down.

SARAH
About 5 months ago I quit my job to be a stay at home mom after being in the work force for 15 years. Up until then I had always fully supported myself and honestly had issues giving up control of my finances. (since I made more money and was better at budgets)
On NYE I made a joke about my daughter asking daddy for money and not mommy. A snotty female friend of my husband's looked right at me and said NO! You need to teach her to be a liberated woman! (not like me) I just gave her the evil eye. How horrible that I gave up her definition of "liberated" to take care of my baby? I truly believe the womens' movement is about choice. Women can do WHATEVER they want, whether its a high powered career or a stay at home mom. There is no right or wrong. I used the theme, lyrics from that badass song and a ball chain for my layout.

NIKKI
this is in response to my crappy situation this year where one of the girls told me that she didn't want to be friends with me anymore because I had too many tattoos! Really, can you believe that s&*t! Anyway, the lyrics of this song were perfect, so I used them in the journaling... "I've never been afraid of any deviation...and I don't really care if you think I'm strange. I ain't gonna change...And I'm never gonna care..."
And of course I used some ball chain...

PATTI

GLENDA
I had fun with this one and made a page for my art journal. I used some of the lyrics from the song and used one of my fave stamps.

LARA
I've been really into deconstructing then reconstructing paper lately - both the papers i used and those BIG LIPS i've been "saving" - now i know for what!

KRISTY
This one finally came to me as I was thinkin about a fight a "friend" and I just had. I feel like it was a dumb reason to fight and only time will tell if things will be ok between us. I hope it will but I've made all the apologies I intend to as I did nothing wrong.

SUSAN
I chose to go with the title of the song because it reminded me of days gone by. I intermingled some of the song lyrics in with my journaling:
There were times I had a bad reputation. They say it's a new generation. Girls can do what they want. Act how they want. Sleep with who they want. But it's not always true. That double standard still exist. Boys can get tattoo's, be falling down drunks, fight and sleep with whomever they want and it's all ok because boys will be boys. But not so much for girls. Exerting our independence isn't all right with everyone. Using our sexual poweress will still get us called sluts whores bitches skank trash prostitutes easy dirty. When my Nana saw my tattoo's she said they made me look trashy. When I cursed she said it wasn't lady like. I never claimed to be a lady. The word has connotations I don't relate to. I don't give a DAMN about my reputation I used to say. But I did. I wanted to be liked by everyone. I didn't want to be hated because of the clothes I wore. How my hair looked. The makeup I wore. The car I drove. Where I did or didn't live. I don't have to please no one. And you should except me for who I am. I really wasn't trouble. I was lost. Wanted to fit in somewhere, even if that place was with the crowd with the bad reputation. So that's the persona I took on. Wild child. Easy. Party girl. Club kid. Groupie. Druggie. But that's all gone now. Now I don't really ever think about my reputation. Good or bad I'm just who I am. If you don't like me then you can KISS MY ASS because I finally do.

RACHEL
This is actually a two part prompt for me, because I host an art journaling blog as well, and as I was working on that, I realized that the prompt there was a good fit here too!! My page started with a bunch of the things that people tell themselves about why they CAN'T do something... I painted over the words, and then journaled on the tag... "What is holding me back? NOTHING. Kiss my ASS." I added the chain over the top of the word I masked WHAT to kind of emulate that feeling of being bound and held back.

We choose our prize winners AND our guest gutter girlz from those of you who play along with us!! All you need to do, is choose a prompt. This one, or the one from last month, and post a comment with a direct link to your creation in your comment. We'll go through and pick a random prize winner, and our choice of a guest designer. No matter WHAT, we want you to play, but these things just sweeten the pot a bit, don't you think?
Our sponsor for the this month is Treasured Scrapbooking!! Erin is donating the January Kit #1. retailing at $27.95!!! Treasured Scrapbooking is online only, but Erin will accept local pick ups if someone happens to be local! (very cool, I think!) Erin is also offering YOU gutter girlz a SPECIAL DISCOUNT!! Enter the code GutterGirlz at checkout, and get 20% off your purchase until Feb. 28th 2010!! Thank you SO MUCH, Erin!!