Introducing............Ellyn

I'm happy to announce that my doll family has recently grown by one.  I've added an American Girl doll to the mix.  She arrived about a week ago, but I'm only just now finding time to share about her.   I have to say that I'm completely impressed with the quality of this doll.  She is truly lovely and I can't find anything not to love about her.  Her hair is absolutely gorgeous.  I'm looking forward to styling it.  It will be a treat for me since I only have sons.  An extra bonus that she won't scream when I comb out the snarls.

For those of you with lots of American Girl (AG) knowledge, she is a My American Girl, #55.  I wanted to choose a doll that would most likely resemble what my daughter might look like if I had a daughter.  So I chose a doll with hazel eyes and brown hair just like me.  I don't have freckles, however.  If I'd been able to choose a doll with wavy brown hair, hazel eyes, and NO freckles, I probably would have.  But I really liked her and had seen good reviews and beautiful photos of her on other blogs.  I'm so glad I chose her.  I've named her Ellyn.  That's a combination of my middle name and maiden name, at least the way I've chosen to spell it.  As of now, she doesn't have a middle name.  I am SUPER excited to sew for her.  I've already made her a pair of jeans using a Liberty Jane pattern.  I'm going to start selling exclusive outfits for 18-inch dolls in the new year in my Etsy shop.  Ellyn will be my model.  She'll probably be sad that I'm selling all the beautiful clothes she's modelling, but I'll let her keep some for herself too.  Here are some photos I took of her right after I opened her box.  I will take more photos of her soon.

Here she is in her box right before I opened it.  

Close-up to show she's a #55.

Somewhat poor quality photo, but I was snapping this super-quick before one of my piano students arrived for a lesson.  This is how she looked right out of the box.  She still had her hair net on at this point.

Even with the distracting background and less than ideal lighting, you can see how gorgeous she is.  LOVE HER!!