DIY Wellie Wishers Tub and Potty

American Girl came out with a Playful Garden Washtub Set for their Wellie Wishers line of dolls.   My first thoughts on this set was that is was absolutely adorable.  My daughters and I are in love with the Wellies.  However, the momma in me thought , “Wow $48 is really pricey for a bubble toy!”  Yes, this adorable toy blows out bubbles.  And yes, my daughters love bubbles.  But as a mother I learned right away that bubbles are an outside toy.  And to be completely honest most doll play is done indoors.  I decided to make a DIY version of American Girl’s Playful Garden Washtub set…but wait…I didn’t want to stop at the tub.  I decided to make a Wellie Wishers bathroom, complete with a Wellie Wishers potty.  Today I will share with you printables to create the purple fencing, the decorative floral wraps for the tub and potty, and the potty seat.

Below are inspiration pictures from the American Girl Wellie Wishers Playful Garden Washtub set.  I recreated the purple fencing in a printable.  I incorporated the flower hose bubble dispenser into the fence printable and also included some bubbles.  I recreated the shelf and hooks as well as the tub faucet.

 

Here is my finished fencing.  Compare it to the inspiration pics above.  What do you think?  I think it looks pretty darn close!  I chose to switch the side of the hose bubble flower because the faucet placement seemed to fit better on the wider wall.  The handles of the tub interfered with the faucet when it was on the narrower wall.

I made this fencing an easy project for you.  Follow the steps below for full instructions.

1.  Print out the three printables for the fence.  The wider side has a left and right.  Your printables are here:  Wellie Tub Fencing Left Half with Bubbles , Wellie Tub Fencing Right Half with Bubbles , and Wellie Tub Fencing With Hose Flower .
2. Trim the center portion of fencing on the left and right sides so they match up evenly.
3. Glue the left and right sides of the wider wall together.
4. Trim up around fence if desired.
5. Make sure the height of each wall is even.

6.  Place each fence printout onto a piece of 3/16″ thick foam-board and trace.  I used Foamwerks Channel Rail and Straight Cutter to get an easy cut.  My final cuts measured 14-1/2″ w x 11″ h for the wide wall and 8-1/2″ w x 11″ h for the narrow wall.

7.  Lay the smaller wall evened up with the wider wall.

8.  Attach two pieces of white duck tape to the upper and lower corners.

9.  Stand the two boards upright and stand on a flat surface so you can guarantee a level bottom.

10. Fold duck tape around and press down.

11.  Now flip narrower side completely over and place two more pieces of duck tape lined up over the other pieces that are on the opposite side.

12.  Now you have an outer duck tape foam board hinge.

13.  Here is a view of the duck tape hinge from the inside fold.

14.  Here is the view of the duck tape hinges with foam-board flat.  Now take your fence printables and glue to foam board.  I used a glue stick.  Take the glue stick and run over not only edges but also the center of the foam-board.  If you feel you can’t work fast enough; glue in sections and slightly roll out printable onto foam-board.

I love how the Hose Bubble Flower Printable turned out!  You can see that the final duck tape hinge is very narrow.

This galvanized tub was found at Michaels Craft Store.  It was purchased for $5 with a coupon.  I have seen similar ones at the Dollar Store as well.  To add a little floral decoration to the tub I made a printable wrap.  Due to the angled shape of the tub the wrap could not fit nicely around the entire tub.  We decided on place the floral décor just on the front half.  You can find your floral printable here:  Wellie Tub & Potty Flower Wrap

The shelf was also created with 3/16″ foam-board. Again, I used Foamwerks Channel Rail and Straight Cutter.  The top panel is 4 inch wide by 1 inch deep.  The back panel is 4 inches wide and 1-1/4 inches tall.  Using hot glue, I glued the top panel on top of the back panel.  Two side triangle support brackets were created; measuring 1 inch wide and 1 inch long (*tip: cut a 1 inch square and cut in half at angles.)  Glue angles into shelf corners.  To be honest, when I made this shelf I debated whether to add the hooks to it because the hooks were so close to the faucet.  You can’t really hang anything long from the shelf hooks.  But, my daughter wanted the shelf to look as close to AGs version as possible. And…of course she found the perfect things to place on those hooks. lol.

The items on the shelf and hooks are all Our Generation items that were gathered from various sets.

The hooks for the Wellie Wishers bathroom were created by recycling hangers and foam-board.  I used a wire cutter.  You could also use heavy duty scissors.  I cut the inner small hooks from a standard plastic hanger.  I cut 5 pieces of foam-board, each measuring 1/2″ wide by 3/4″ tall.  Take the sharp end of the cut hook and shove into the center of the foam-board piece.  Pull out the hook.  Place a small amount of hot glue in hole.  Replace hook into hole and position immediately before glue sets.

Finally, if desired spray paint the hooks.  I chose a gold color the mimic American Girl’s version.

To create the tub faucet I recycled some cpvc pieces I had left over from when I made the Wellie Wishers beds.  I used a 1/2″ cpvc corner and two end caps.  I used Aleene’s glass glue and glued a button to the bottom end of the cornered cpvc.  I spray painted each piece individually in an sky blue.  I also cut a piece of foam-board 1″ by 3-1/8″ and spray painted and let dry.  Again using Aleene’s glass glue, I glued the cpvc pieces to the foam-board.  I then glued green buttons to the top of the end caps.  Let dry.

Make sure you place your tub along the wall prior to attaching the faucet so you know where (how high) to place the faucet.  You don’t want to be constantly bumping it during play.

So…I decided to attach all items to the fence board with Velcro sticky tabs.  The mom in me knows when it is time to pick up that these play items must be stored away.    By using Velcro, the shelf, hooks, and faucet can be removed and the fencing folded flat.  I am very big on recycling toys we already have to serve other purchases.  There just isn’t enough room for every wanted toy.  For example, taking our Kit Treehouse and reinventing it into a Wellie Wishers Playhouse.  Where there is a will there is a way!

The fencing can be folded down and items can be stored away side the tub!

The Wellie Wishers potty is made from a standard size can of mix nuts.  The label was removed, lid was discarded and can was thoroughly washed and dried.   To keep in line with the look of galvanized metal, I spray painted the can silver.  I added some of the decorative wrap that is found in a printable above (you will need 2 of the 3 sections – cut to needed size.)  The bottom of the can is now the top…glue the  potty seat printable in place.  Your Wellies Wishers Potty Seat printable is here:  Wellie Wishers Potty Seat

The toilet paper is made from a black straw cut to 1-1/4″.  Strips of computer paper were cut to 1-1/4″ and continuously wrapped around the straw.  I used a glue stick to hold each end in place.  I used two sheets of paper for each roll.

I love this set up so much!  You can pretend the tub is in the garden and the dolls can splash around in it in their mermaid costumes and bathing suits.

OR…you could make this into a Wellie Wishers bathroom scene.  The tub bubbles were recycled from our American Girl bathtub.  Other options for tub bubbles include bubble wrap or packaging peanuts.

My youngest daughter thought the Wellies Wishers potty was so cute!  Thank goodness the Wellies have non-permanent panties!  lol.  We decided a Wellie sink was not needed for the scene.  The tub is narrow and works well for a sink too.  This scene also looks so cute for a pet washing station!

The Wellie rug pictured can be found here: http://brandyshappyhome.com/diy-wellie-wisher-playhouse-rug-and-bird/

For more Wellie Wishers crafts see here:  http://brandyshappyhome.com/diy-wellie-wishers-crafts/

Craft on!