Millstream Cottage Crafts
2081 South Main Street B0K 2A0 Westville, NS, Canada

Next up is Lemon Lime Zest. This is a nice hard bar due to the cocoa butter in it, and smells wonderfully fresh due to the lemon and lime essential oils added for their scent. To add a little extra citrus punch, zest from real lemons and limes is also in the mix.

Doing some restocks yesterday, cut today. Still have my Castile style soap, Only Olive, in the mold as it takes longer to set up. First up is Cleansing Clay, a bar with two types of clay added, red/brown rhassoul clay, and grey Canadian glacial clay. These clays help your shin feel less oily and this makes a great facial bar.

Hello everyone, I'm excited to share that you can find some of my products now at the Pictou County's Handmade Boutique on Westville Road in the old School Board building! Drop in and see the quality and variety of crafts they have!

We would like to thank all our wonderful customers and friends and to wish you all a Happy Holiday and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. We'd also like to advise that any orders placed after December 17th will be filled starting on January 4th, 2021. Have a wonderful holiday and I hope that you and yours stay safe. ~~~Ann Image by

"Whether you are a practitioner, manufacturer, or seller of essential oils, if you make an unfounded medical claim, you may be at risk of prosecution or you m...ay have your post on a social media platform taken down. This partly depends on where you live in the world, but if you sell essential oils, and make unfounded claims about treating COVID-19, you are effectively flying a very large red flag." https://tisserandinstitute.org/covid-19-and-unfounded-clai/

"Whether you are a practitioner, manufacturer, or seller of essential oils, if you make an unfounded medical claim, you may be at risk of prosecution or you m...ay have your post on a social media platform taken down. This partly depends on where you live in the world, but if you sell essential oils, and make unfounded claims about treating COVID-19, you are effectively flying a very large red flag." https://tisserandinstitute.org/covid-19-and-unfounded-clai/

Something to keep in mind these days.

FREE gift from Canada Crafters to the first 10 shoppers who purchase from more than one maker during the Canada Crafters Online Craft Show with a total order of... at least $100. This online 3-day shopping event starts Thursday October 15th at 6pm Atlantic time and runs continuously until 6pm Sunday October 18th. Canada Crafters online craft show offers curated unique handmade items. Shop from the comfort of home, avoid the crowds, no hand sanitizer or masks required. Easily order from multiple vendors with one shopping cart and, for local orders, you can choose free curbside pickup in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. SHOP ONLINE - canadacrafters.ca

Check out the wonderful array of crafts during the online show put on by Canada Crafters later this month! This online show is fully curated and juried so you can be confident you are getting the best - just like a regular craft show, except you can do all your shopping right from your own home! CanadaCrafters.ca online show will run from October 15 to October 18th.

Nova Scotia's first full-featured online craft show. Now you can easily shop handmade & support local makers this holiday season with a curated online 3-day cra...ft show. (HANDMADE ONLY). Shoppers can buy from multiple makers with one simple check out process. Dartmouth locals can enjoy free contactless pickup. Further away? Items will be shipped to your door. LEARN MORE: www.canadacrafters.ca #canadacrafters #buycanadian #dartmouth #halifax #halifaxnoise #handmade #local #shoplocal #shophandmade #supportlocal #supporthandmade #makers #holidaymarket #onlinecraftfair #makersmarket #novascotia #madeincanada #canadamade #HalifaxNS #canadianhandmade #novascotiamakers #handmade #craftfair #gifts #maritimes #spportlocalbusinesses #supportlocalartists #craftmarket #craftshow #onlinecraftshow See more

Hi Folks! Millstream Cottage Crafts will be participating in this new online craft show! Please take a few moments of your time to support the many crafters who are offering excellent quality handcrafts for you. We are also supporting our community by donating a portion of the proceeds to this wonderful organization! One stop shopping and pickup, or shipping if desired; check us out!

I also did a restock of Only Olive , check below for photos of that one. The last batch made yesterday was Lilac & Lilies. This one is scented with premium fragrance oil, and coloured with violet and a touch of white. It's a lovely creamy bar in a true lilac scent.

Next up is Granite. Granite is a big, scrubby bar ideal for anyone who gets their hands really dirty and grimy. It has poppy seeds, cornmeal, coffee and pumice for scrubbing and sweet orange oil for grease cutting. It's coloured with charcoal. This is my version of a "Mechanic's Bar".

See below for text - Salt Crystals bar!

The workshop wasn't much cooler than the rest of the house yesterday, but I was making soap anyway! First up is Salt Crystals - you've seen my posts about Salt Bars before, this is the uncoloured and unscented version. It has such a lovely creamy lather that it's the one I've put by the bathroom sink to use for all the hand washing we're doing.

Branching out from Soap for a bit, I've been in the workshop pouring a few candles...citronella candles to be precise. With the nice weather finally here to stay these will be a nice addition to your outdoor enjoyment by keeping the bugs at bay. There are two varieties...the yellow coloured candles are paraffin, and the cream are soy wax left uncoloured.

More goodies from the workshop...here is Gone Walkabout Lotion Stick; scented with lemon eucalyptus, citronella and lavender essential oils, it has cocoa butter, shea butter, avocado oil, hemp oil and vitamin e in the formula. Small enough that you can carry it in your pocket, golf bag or beach bag! Coffee Kitchen Scrub is made with fresh unused coffee grounds to give it some scrubbiness and to assist in getting rid of the less desirable smells and kitchen grease from your hands. There is a little bit of pumice in the mix as well. No scent added, so this won't compete with your delicious dishes! Jasmine soap is scented with premium fragrance oils, and coloured lightly with French Green clay and Titanium Dioxide, to give subtle patterns through each bar. Contains shea butter to make your skin feel wonderful!

I was asked a question recently, and in addition to answering it in person, I decided to put the answer here too. The question was, "Is there Lye in my soap?" The short answer is No. but the long answer is as follows: I use lye to make to make soap, in fact you can’t make true soap without it. That said, there is NO lye in the finished soap when the product is formulated correctly.... To make soap (which is an exothermic chemical reaction, i.e., it gives off heat) sodium hydroxide, also known as lye or caustic soda, is combined with a liquid, usually water but can be milk or other liquid, and the resulting solution is then combined with fats, which can be liquid like olive oil, or solid at room temperature like coconut oil. Each oil has a saponification value (SAP value) which tells us how much lye it will take to turn the fat into soap. Using this as a guide, the soap maker will formulate to have an excess of fats so that all the lye is used up and the resulting soap is kind and gentle to the skin. Different oils will give different properties to the soap, so most soap makers use a variety of oils in their products. My soap is formulated with at least 5% excess oils over lye, so there is no worry over whether there is any lye left in the finished product. Lye is used in other capacities as well, from food preparation to cleaning. It is caustic so using proper safety gear is very important when handling it. I do wear goggles, gloves and closed toed footwear when I’m making soap. If you have any questions or want more information, please don’t hesitate to ask, and I’ll be delighted to answer. Photo credits: Sodium Hydroxide from Alibaba.com and fats and oils from thesprucecrafts.com

This is the other batch made the other day ..Only Olive. Made with olive oil only, this bar takes a while longer than my other bars to set up and to cure. The result is a Castile style soap that is very mild and gentle. It generates minimal lather, but that is all that is necessary to gently cleanse away the grime of the day.

Back in the workshop after a short hiatus to do some baking. This is my Pine Tar soap. With 20% pine tar, my customers say it helps their problem skin feel much better.

The latest soap from the workshop... first is the second of the 4 salt bars I make - LimeStone. Scented with Lime Essential Oil, it smells delightful! The second bar is Manchurian Dragon. It isn't what you think it is...instead, it's scent is soft, fruity and a little bit floral. The colors reflect the name though...reddish for the "dragon's fire" and black for the smoke. I hope you like it as much as I do! The bars have not been trimmed or cleaned up.

This is Cleansing Clay, the second soap I made yesterday. This bar is no scent added and the colourants are Rhassoul Clay (the brownish colour) and Canadian Glacial Clay (the grey). These Clays not only add a nice visual, they are also beneficial for your skin. The bars have not been trimmed or cleaned up as yet.

In the workshop again today. This is Tangerine Lime Spa Bar. Made with salt, it gives you a nice large bar that has a beautiful creamy lather and makes your skin feel amazing! The bars have not yet been trimmed or cleaned up.

Here are a couple more soaps...Lemon Lime Zest and Pink Grapefruit. Both are scented with essential oils. The bars have not been trimmed or cleaned up.

Thanks to everyone who shared their favourite Millstream soaps! Hubby Steve picked the winner and it is ................ Robin Boutilier!!! Congrats Robin! Please message me telling me which one you'd like!

More soap! This time it's Gardener's Bar and Tea Tree & Peppermint. Cut bars are not cleaned or trimmed yet. What's your favourite bar of soap? Answer here and on Monday Night I'll draw from everyone who commented, for a bar of my soap!

Back in the workshop, finally! I'm still working on balance and strength, and had to recover from that nasty cold that hung on forever (NOT Covid 19!) and I am back making soap! I have a new essential oil to use for scent...if you have a suggestion as to what other scents to pair it with, and I use your suggestion I will give you a bar from the first batch! The new scent is Pine Essential Oil. Please share this post with your friends!

Here's an update! Even though I still have some balance and strength issues remaining from the surgery (and I am working on them) I am back in creating and making mode. I made lotions yesterday and Shea Butter Food Cream (fragrance free version) today. I hope to be back in the workshop making soap by the end of the week.

Just a little note to let you all know that the surgery was a success and I am recuperating at home. If you see me at the mall with my walker, I'm getting my exercise and building my strength back up! Soon I'll be able to be back in the workshop working on soap and candles for you!

We've come to the end of another decade and another year. Everything starts fresh again tomorrow, and I wish all the best of everything to all my customers and friends as we move into the 2020's. I will be taking a few weeks off as I will be recovering from surgery for the first part of the year, but I'll be coming back with lots of energy to make lots of great things for you!

To all my friends and customers I wish you all a Merry Christmas!