Shell model calculations based on active proton configurations are performed for the nuclei 1 4 6 6 4 Gd 8 2 and 1 4 7 6 5 Tb 8 2 using a Surface Delta plus a modified quadrupole-quadrupole and octupole-octupole interaction. The energies of the excited states up to J = 16 and J = 272, respectively, are obtained in good agreement with the experimental values. Special attention is paid to the description of those excited states which are interpreted in the particle-core coupling model as 2 + particle and 3 - particle configurations, where the 2 + and the 3 - state are the low-lying collective states of 1 4 6 Gd and the extra particle of 1 4 7 Tb is in one of the 3s 1 2 , 1h 1 1 2 , or 2d 3 2 single-particle states.