If Venus of Willendorf were a paper doll

I have joined another Swap-bot swap, this time, a paperdoll with the theme Earth!  Immediately, I thought of Venus of Willendorf (see inset.)  She epitomizes Earth for me, but then I thought what would she look if she were modern? 
She is made of hand-made paper painted with copper paint which should develop a nice patina over time.  I then added details with gel pens and acrylic paint. 
As I was designing this doll I began to reminisce about my mom.  Every year when I was a little girl and the Ms Universe pageant was on TV my mom would paint our nails and we would wear our best dresses.  She also made my sister and I voluptuous paperdolls on cardboard and designed them dresses from flocked wallpaper.  The dresses were gold, ruby red and sapphire blue.  I decided that in honor of my mom, I would give my earth mama seasonal outfits.  All of the outfits are made from commerical scrapbooking papers with additional details, like the faux fur trim on the winter snowsuit or the lace on the summer frock.

Market Finds

This weekend my family went to the Irene Market rather than our usual trip to the closer Hazel Food Market.  Irene is a larger market in the town of Irene similar to an art fair in the United States but with way more food vendors.  I would definitely recommend paying a visit if you want to bring home some souvenirs from South Africa or are just looking for a great place to get gifts. 

While there are several talented artists at Irene Market, the work of Michelle Penny of Gallery Seven caught my eye.  Her painting, Endless Possibilities, used with permission, is a sample of her work.  You can see Penny's palette is vibrant and her subject matter reminiscent of Marc Chagall.  While his work was about love and longing, Penny's subject matter is a more humorous and theatrical take on intimacy.  I will need to make a spot on my wall for one of her paintings. 

Another item that really caught my eye was the super cute hand-made leather shoes of Suki Shoes.  They make shoes for babies and toddlers and I had to get a pair for my little girl. 
The ceramic tiles of Tiled Tapestries turned my head because they reminded me very much of a cheerfully colored version of my treasured Motawi tiles.  The hand-made beads on the bracelets of Piccolo Jewellery & Glass were exquisite.  I also found out they have beadmaking classes not too far from my house.   
There are certainly other great finds at the Market I just wanted to share a few of my favorites.

Entering into Project Selvage

As you know I am new to fabric design, however, I am going to take a big dive and enter into Project Selvage.  It is a bit like Project Runway only this contest is for fabric designers.  The competion is to design a fabric for baby boys and if selected for the voting, design 5 more coordinating fabrics.  I hope to at least place in the finalists.  I am so excited to try this out and of course, I will let you know when the voting is...