The WellieWishers™ dolls are designed to teach young girls kindness, empathy and being a good friend, and this mom can definitely get behind those life lessons. Camille arrived perfectly packaged, dressed in the Ocean Waves outfit with the signature fish wellies (short for Wellington boots), with an adorable clip in star barrette and perfect hair. She also came with three of the WellieWishers™ books; The Riddle of the Robin, Ashlyn’s Un-Surprise Party, and the Muddily Puddily Show. I dove right into the books, while I decided when we would surprise our princess with this stunning doll.
While reading Ashlyn’s Un-Surprise party, I saw an opportunity to present the doll to our little girl with a little creative matching Wellie Wishers accessories DIY Felt Flower Headband . In the story, the girls have a little party and wear these beautiful flower headbands. I knew that our little girl would love to have a matching flower headband for her and her WellieWishers™ doll, so I set off to create them!
First, I measured our princesses head and the dolls head and cut the elastic to fit the crown of their heads. At this point our little girl had no idea what I was doing, she was just excited that I was making something for her!
Next I made 3 different felt flowers. I made some “carnation” type flowers out of the cream. First, I cut out six 2 inch diameter circles, then I folded 5 of the 6 circles in half and glued them down. I only glued 1/2 the fold down. Then I folded the half circles into quarters and glued those folds down. I made sure to leave them sort of open so they would puff up. Once I had 5 circles glued into quarters. I organized them onto the last circle and glued them down. Lastly, I glued down the center quarter.
The “mums” were my favorite and easiest flower to make. First you cut stripes of felt (about 3 x 10), then fold those in half. Once folded, cut slits about 1/4 inch apart. Then start rolling the flower up and seal the ends with hot glue.
The last flower I made were roses. To make these you do a swirl scallop from a 4 inch diameter circle and then starting with the outside of the swirl you begin to roll it into a rose shape. I did seal the center with a dot of hot glue and the bottom of the rose with hot glue as well.
In addition, I did make the flowers a bit smaller for the dolls headband by about an inch to have them fit her head better.
Once the flowers were made, I used hot glue to seal the ends of the headbands together and then began hot gluing the flowers onto the headbands. I tried to randomly place them together but keep them close so when they were on they would look natural.
The headbands came out perfect and were the best way to surprise our little girl with her WellieWisher™ Camille. I decided to set up a little tea party outside with her dolly and the books. I had our little girl run up and put on her own wellies and her headband and come outside. I showed her the doll and the books (in particular the page where the girls were wearing their own flower headbands) and she immediately fell in love.
She began serving tea immediately and laughing and playing with her Camille. She looked her over, pointed out her wellies, her beautiful clothes, her matching Wellie wishers accessories and then she carried this doll everywhere. She slept with her, she asked to bathe with her (um no kid, not yet) and she even ate dinner with her American Girl® WellieWisher™ right next to her.
It was the best surprise for our little princess! I already have ordered some accessories for her and cannot wait to read the rest of the stories with her.
If you want to check out the American Girl® WellieWishers™ line you can stop by your local American Girl® store or Toys R’ Us. Their are 5 different garden-themed dolls to choose from along with tons of accessories and clothing for any price range. The dolls start out at $60.00 and are just a little smaller than the 18 inch standard American Girl® dolls. You can also snag the 3 books mentioned above as well! In addition, the WellieWishers™ come to life in the first-ever animated series available through Amazon Prime Video! I know we are definitely going to check that out soon!
