I present Alyssa Raley Anne!

As I mentioned yesterday, the "Beach Baby" Ashton Drake Doll whom I had been calling Alanna after the girl she was created to be had a name change.

Another name that the real Alanna's mom had in her pool of names for her daughter was

Alyssa Raley Anne.

Since she already has a portrait doll named Alanna, she decided to name this baby 

Alyssa Raley Anne.

I had the best time taking pictures of this sweetheart yesterday!

She is a whopping 22 1/2 inches and weighs, per her "mother's" request, 

8 pounds, 6 ounces!

She is traveling home today.

Here is the original doll, Beach Baby:

And the photos of the real Alanna that I most used to create Alyssa:

And the Alyssa baby doll:

 My favorite picture of her:

This dolls head was SO HARD!  Not only did I have to heat it, it had to be HOT!

Even so, I broke an entire ounce of Bountiful Baby's older 40 gauge Ultra (extra strength) needles!

I barely got her head done with only 3 bent needles to spare.  This has not been my needle of choice for many years but I am glad I had them on hand because that is the only gauge and strength of needle that would root this head.

But, other than a lot of "pokey-ups" that will brush out over time, and a few places where there are several hairs in a hole, I am very happy with her head of hair:

This is the outfit that her "mama" wanted her to arrive home in.  

The real Alanna was born at 8 lbs, 6 ounces and never got to wear this shirt and jeans. 

 Ready to travel home (without the pacifier in her mouth of course!):

What a wonderful experience this was!  

XXOO