End of the Month MOJO May '10

OH MAN!! I totally lost track of my days!! It's the END OF THE MONTH!! I nearly forgot to get our end of the month MOJO up!!
Margrethe is hosting this month's End of the Month MOJO as well as this month's prize. She has asked Julie to be this month's honorary Gutter Girl! Due to some mix-ups on Margrethe's part, (apparently I'm not the only one mixed up at least...) Julie didn't get a chance to do this May's prompt. Instead she'll be showing some of her other works of art - she truly is an amazing artist!

Bio: My name is Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and I am a mixed-media artist and
avid scrapbooker. I live in New York City (right in Times Square),
where my husband (also my college sweetheart) has graciously accepted
that everything we own is covered in paint! I like to make art that
has a handmade, primitive feeling to it. You'll find lots of paint,
ink, hand cutting, and crazy color in my work. And I dabble in
everything from quilting to quilling!

I have been lucky enough to be published in books and magazines
including Cloth Paper Scissors, Quilting Arts Gifts, Creating
Keepsakes, Memory Makers, Scrapbook Trends, Somerset Memories, and
others! I regularly appear on both Scrapbook Memories TV (PBS) and
Quilting Arts TV (PBS). I am on the design teams for InfoCrea, Pencil
Lines, and Prima. I teach a live web class for Prima twice a month.
The classes are free, so be sure to check them out at
LiveWithPrima.com. I also teach around NYC, and will also be teaching
at CREATE (the CPS mixed media retreat) in Chicago, and for another
retreat in France in November. Also I'm excited to share that Cloth
Paper Scissors will be releasing my hour long DVD (lots of great
painting and texturizing techniques) in late July!

I've been scrapbooking for about seven years. It took me a while to
find my voice, but I've enjoyed every step of that journey. I love to
tell stories and make a mess and scrapbooking allows me to do both!

10 Random Scrapbooking Thoughts from Me:

1. I can't live without my Ranger Heat It Craft Tool (I'm an impatient
creator and it makes paint dry!) or my Cutterbee scissors.
2. I try to do something creative every single day.
3. Always try the things that scare you.
4. I am drawn to art that is quirky and unique, just as I am drawn to
people who are quirky and unique.
5. Gel Medium will always work when nothing else will stick this-to-that.
6. Don't ever be afraid to ruin it. You can't. Be brave and add that
next layer!
7. Use the photos of yourself with a double chin. Seriously.
8. One of the things I love most about scrapbooking is the community
that it creates. I adore going to crops!
9. Try to always put on apron. Otherwise, all your shirts will have
paint on them.
10. Perfection is overrated.

You can see more of Julie's art on her blog: Balzer Designs

For those of you dying to play along, post a direct link to your Gutter inspired projects in a comment on this post, THIS CURRENT POST or the one coming up on June 15th!! Your name will be put in the hat to win our prize from MARGRETHE: A $20 gift certificate from Studio Calico! We'll also keep our eyes open through the comments here for our NEXT guest gutter girl!!

We'd like to ask KeepSakeCrafts to be our GUEST designer for the upcoming prompt on the 15th!! Please email us using the email address (or the form if you click the email image) and use JUNE GUEST as your subject line! Let us know if you are interested!!

Our random number generator has selected CHERYL!! "Hi I love the textures ,too. I went with the song from concrete blond and re wrote the lyrics my interpretation is at www.scrapaddict4sure.com " Congratulations, Cheryl!! You've got yourself a 35$ gift certificate to TallyScrapper.com!! Send me an email with MAY PRIZE in your subject line, and I'll give you the details on how to redeem that!

May 15th, Prompt #37

Hello! Welcome to the Gutter! This has been one busy month, and it felt SO nice to get in the gutter. I feel like it's been ages since I've been there... Thank you so much for putting up with us while we get ready for our new year! We're making some changes, and hoping to make the gutter an even BETTER place to be!
Are you ready!?
THE PROMPT:
Not It!!
THE SONG:
Not the Doctor by Alanis Morissette
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE:
Stitches Please welcome our guest Designer:
Marit!!

Hi, I'm Marit and I'm honoured to be a guest designer for Gutter Girlz!

I love the concept of this challenge blog - dig deep and spit out those emotion - that's my way of scrapping and art journaling! I am a passionate artist who’s loves to try new techniques, products and ideas and I always try to stretch myself in my work.
Defining my style isn't that easy because I think of each layout as unique.
Inspired by an idea, photo, paper or technique, I go from there driven by my mood.
I’m very concentrated and thoughtful when it comes to creating.
I like to put away my work from time to time and look at it later with a fresh mind.
My work needs a little time to “grow”.
The outcome can be very diverse: from graphical to mixed media like.
Although it isn’t always clear to the observer my layouts always come with
a “deeper meaning”.
I also create Art Journals. I enjoy adding mixed media (meaning sewing, fabric, dimension)
to my scrapbook layouts as well as my Art Journals.
There is a certain cross over when you look at both fields and I like to explore the
boundaries of it.
I graduated as a teacher in arts and last year I built my own website with a community
where I teach online art journaling/scrapbooking workshops.
My blog Marit's Blog
My website Marit's Scrapworld

I didn't know the song but when I listened to it, and read the lyrics, it hit me hard.
It's very personal and I was a little confused at once... but I knew right away which photo
I would use. Here's the original photo (that's me in 1986 on a Dutch dike...)

I edited this photo in photoshop and I used a part of the "dike" to make a pedestal
(adding some shadows with a marker)

Here's the complete layout:

I hand stitched the "swirls" and used markers for the journaling.
The blue "frame" is made with oil pastel.

Here is what the Design Team created with the prompt!
Kristy:
My thoughts on the creation of my LO is the prompt and the stitches came together with me in a sense of growth. I am finally getting over the fact that I could never and probably will never live up to my Mother's expectations and seeing as she lives her life (the anger and alcohol) I thought "why am I trying?" I'm done trying. I'm going to be better for ME and live up to MY expectations. The happy and bright colors grew out of that.

Patti:

It felt real good to get my feeling on paper for this months prompt. I used a few verses from the song and I hand stitched my title. I am not sure if you can read the journaling but here it is:

"I don't want to be the sweeper of the eggshells you walk upon. I continue to live in a void when it comes to a proper relationship with my Mom. She turned her back on family to boost the ego of the man in her life. We're almost at the point of no return. I won't tip toe around and pretend it's okay. I won't treat her with kid gloves. She made a decision that has affected too many peoples lives."

Lara:
This is an art journal page. All the photos are from my 2010 Photo a Day challenge. Instead of stitching, I glued sewing patterns over the bottom layer of photos - love how they become semi-transparent with glue and water.

Margrethe:

It took me quite a while to figure out what to make this month, but... On Monday I received new jewelery for my stretched piercings; 5mm/ 4 gauge. I've been slowly stretching my ears since February, I think, but it's only now it's really noticeable. Before, I wore glass spirals, but now I've switched to eyelets, and you can actually see through my ears. Darling Husband is more than slightly icked. He doesn't like piercings to begin with. And that's where the song comes in. To me, it's all about breaking free, defining who you want to be, or who you don't want to be, if that's the case. So that's what this month's layout is about for me: How I'm taking charge of who I am.

Becky:

I have a broke heart this month....and what a better prompt than this one to journal about it. I used staples to replicate stitches in the heart.
Glenda:
I took these lyrics from the song and made an ATC.

Rachel:
This month has been a whirl wind for me... so I decided to focus on the line in the song that says lend me some fresh air... I also took advantage of the fact that I host A Year in the Life of an Art Journal, and combined that prompt with this one... :) So my tangled feelings and the string stitching mixed well with that.

Once a month, that guest is chosen HERE from those of YOU that play along! All you need to do to be considered for a guest spot, is create YOUR art from OUR prompt, then leave us a comment with a direct LINK to your creation in a comment here. Please be sure when you leave your comment, to include your email in the space provided in our comment system. Your email is not shared publicly, but it allows us to email guest invitations!!
This month, all comments with links will be entered to win a gift certificate from TallyScrapper.com!

Can't wait to see what you create!!