Riverbell Cottage

27/08/2024

These are eggs from our Araucana chickens and are the most beautiful pastel blue shade. If you’re local and wanting to hatch your own chicks please ask me about our fertile eggs!

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21/08/2024

It was a fulfilling day today teaching English this morning and making soaps in the afternoon. I’ve updated my bio link to include my English classes so if you know someone looking to improve their English speaking skills please forward on my details! 🙌🙏

https://carrieantoniou.square.site

14/08/2024

Our classic rose geranium cold process soap has been a favourite since the beginning. Coloured with red clay and sprinkled with organic rose petals, scented with rose geranium essential oil, it smells as good as it looks. 🌹

13/08/2024

My website has been restocked with all three candle scents, available to ship Australia wide or a local pick up option. They offer a natural, synthetic free alternative to standard candles that create a beautiful, subtle scent throughout the home. 🏡🕯️

11/08/2024

We had a lovely family day celebrating our youngest two turning 12. 🥰🥰 It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend for them celebrating with friends and family. Tomorrow is going to be a nice quiet studio day for me, teaching English and making soap. 🍃

09/08/2024

I love the vision that Lone Pine have for their sanctuary. They have lots of changes coming and are really focused on supporting local, eco-friendly businesses and engaging with the community. It’s an absolute pleasure having my products stocked there and I look forward to seeing the new changes coming. 🐨☺️

08/08/2024

My most popular lipbalm by far! Every one is hand poured with a steady hand. 😅 Rose vegan lipbalm is made with candelilla wax, organic shea butter, extra virgin olive oil and rose geranium essential oil; you don’t get cleaner ingredients! Get your daughters educated on what they’re putting into their bodies when they’re buying up a storm at those well known beauty chains and teach them ways to support their bodies the natural way starting with safe and lovely body care products! 🙌

Link to shop in bio 🛒❤️

08/08/2024

Beautiful calendula topped lemon myrtle soaps, scented with only pure Australian Lemon Myrtle essential oil. Safe for the whole family and will turn your shower into a spa-like experience ☺️🚿🍃

Available online www.riverbellcottage.com (link in bio), pick up option available for Brisbane locals!

06/08/2024

For delicious coffee and beautiful handmade, locally sourced gifts you must visit in Pullenvale. Located on Grandview Road at the Pullenvale Hall it’s such a great meeting place, complete with lovely crochet blankets to keep you warm on these cold mornings! 🥶

06/08/2024

What started as wrapping a couple of soaps turned into several hours worth of wrapping! When it got dark outside I realised it was probably time to start on the dinner and leave the soaps for tomorrow! Once I get a good podcast on its amazing how quickly the time passes.

03/08/2024

I swept the cobwebs off my soap stand and set up for the Mogganza markets today! Brisbane has brought its best winters day for the occasion and we’re hoping it’s going to be a good one!

02/08/2024

I had a lovely day out in the city today, passing the time whilst I got my car looked at. It’s always fun revisiting the places I saw for the first time as a backpacker 21 years ago. Tonight I’ll be busy preparing for the Moggill State School Mogganza which is on all day tomorrow. It’s only the second (and possibly last) market for me this year so if you’re local and want to stock up on soaps, lipbalms and candles please swing by and say hi!

31/07/2024

Fill your home with natural, clean scents with our olive wax candles, with cotton wick. Available in three essential oil blends: Lemon Myrtle & Rosemary; Orange & Cedarwood; and Lavender & Lemon Eucalyptus. Available online now! (Link in bio 🛒🛒 www.riverbellcottage.com)

30/07/2024

Despite the fact that I am really sensitive to the cold weather it’s also probably my favourite time of year. Something about the leaves on the ground, the foggy mornings and the evening fire just makes me feel content. There’s also often a longing to move out of the suburban/rural area somewhere more remote. I imagine my soap studio in an old shed, with a rambling Queenslander overlooking the mountains, with the smell of fresh bread and coffee wafting through the home.

28/07/2024

I made my first batch of soap about 16 years ago. I had taken a book out from the library and remember being absolutely terrified of killing myself with the lye 😂. I’d bought some clays and essential oils and the soaps turned out pretty well but I was so scared that they still had lye in them I let them cure for a year and then threw them out thinking I would harm my little family of 3! I had no one to ask my questions to (I had many!) and it was before FB groups so I gave up for the time being. Fast forward about 12 years and I was determined to master the art of soapmaking this time. I absolutely love turning fats into soap and the variety of beautiful soaps that can be made with this traditional process. If you’re keen to dabble in soapmaking please check out my soapmaking class options (in person or online) on my website! If you’re after high quality soaps, want control over what goes into them and want a mentor to ask questions to along the way then I am here to help!

27/07/2024

If you love chickens please follow my twins’ page where they share photos of our flock!

25/07/2024

Getting my soap sleeves professionally printed was one of the best things I’ve done for my business. It has saved me soooo much time manually printing and cutting them! I found these perfect sized stackable containers at Daiso which bring me a little bit of joy each time I look at them, seeing how nicely organised my labels are 😂🙌.

23/07/2024

Australiana has to be one of my favourite soaps, oozing with the best smells of the Australian bush! Scented with eucalyptus, lemon myrtle, tea tree essential oils, it also has the additional benefits of green clay and salt and makes a great gift for a visitor to Australia or just an Aussie who loves really good soap! Available online (link in bio) 🙌

17/07/2024

My olive wax candles are restocked and perfect for you if you’re after a safe, natural candle that doesn’t have hidden synthetic fragrances. They burn beautifully emitting a subtle natural scent that won’t leave you with a migraine. Perfect for creating a cosy atmosphere on these cold nights! 🔥🏡

15/07/2024

It was a cold start to the day this morning. Brisbane is beautiful in winter, with cold crisp mornings and blue sunny afternoons. The houses aren’t made for the cold though so I spend a lot of time indoors wearing my winter coat 😂. My northern hemisphere brain will always equate winter and having the fire on with Christmas though despite me having lived here for 20 years. Are there any things your brain just refuses to let go of?!

13/07/2024

My little entrepreneur .a.handmade set up a pop-up shop at Vend Marketplace, Virginia today. I’m so happy she’s getting such a great opportunity to showcase her products. Her business has come a long way in the past few years and it’s a pleasure to watch her flourish doing something she loves. If you’re in the area please swing past and check it out, it’s a great place to buy gifts from local makers.

10/07/2024

Fresh slabs of honey & goatsmilk soap, ready to be cut and cured. Each soap cures for approximately 3 weeks before it is packaged for sale. I’ve slowly worked on adding a larger water discount over the years so that cure time is reduced a lot which helps when I run out of a soap unexpectedly. This is my only soap that doesn’t have any essential oils added to it and is perfect for babies. The smell of the natural soap and honey is really beautiful. It contains nourishing shea butter and cocoa butter, which along with the milk, makes for a really creamy bar of soap.

10/07/2024

We welcomed a lot of adorable chicks yesterday and were keen to check how they were doing this morning. We’d forgotten how cute baby chicks are!! The girls are loving naming them and holding them. 🥰

10/07/2024

Beautiful coffee beans grown in our local area by make our coffee scrub soap extra special. The ground beans produce the perfect balance of scrubbiness without scratching and is lovely to even use on the face. Save yourself the cost of expensive exfoliant cleansers that strip your skin of their natural oils (not to mention the plastic microbeads which some contain that are a whole other story). You’ll find that a good soap loaded with naturally occurring glycerine is great for the face and body without drying it out at all. Coffee scrub soap is available online now! (Link in bio or here for FB-> www.riverbellcottage.com 🏡)

08/07/2024

Beautiful Basil & Rosemary soap, one of my original recipes which people seem to either love or hate! I love its herbiness and the scent it gives off in a hot shower. 🍃🌱

07/07/2024

This chest rub has come in handy this season. I used to have so many go-to remedies when my kiddies got sick and it’s simplified a lot over the years. I started to realise that a healthy immune system will usually manage quite well with a cough or cold and simple tricks like an early night, sunshine, lots of water and chest rub on the feet, back and chest will go a long way in helping to reduce that prolonged cough. You can still find my small batch Chest Rub in my online store for those winter months ahead.

05/07/2024

It was a labelling day today plus an afternoon out with my children before school starts up again next week. It’s now Friday night, I’m making pizzas for dinner, our fireplace is crackling away and I’m looking forward to a relaxing evening in. What’s your idea of a perfect Friday night?🔥☺️

04/07/2024

One of my old favourites is back! It’s been out of stock for ages but I made a small batch today and it’s in my shop ready for the next few winter months ahead. It’s the perfect solution to dry hands and can be slipped into a handbag and will double up as a lipbalm. As always, it contains no nasties and smells delicious. It comes in a compostable tube and is safe for the whole family.

04/07/2024

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We are excited to share with you this beautiful, locally made face and body oil we now have available from Carrie at Riverbell Cottage.

Carrie has sourced the most beautiful fair trade Peach and Apricot oils and combined them with essential oils of Ylang Ylang, Juniper Berry and Cedarwood.
There are beautiful organic rose petals and juniper berry botanicals suspended in the oil that not only look amazing but will diffuse over time to add more beneficial essences into your oil.

This combination creates a luxurious oil that is great for hands, face, hair and nails and safe for all ages, containing zero nasties. Be sure to give it a try and support another small business while using a safe, beautiful product for yourself.

04/07/2024

The fair trade peach and apricot oils used in my face and body oil are produced by an organisation which assists in rural development in the Kumaon Himalayas. The oil is produced by hand-sorted kernels which are crushed in a traditional wood press to retain their natural properties, particularly their high vitamin e content, which is perfect for all skin types. I use it around on my face, focussing under the eyes both morning and night as well as on the backs of my hands. It has a subtle scent of rose, earthy wood tones and peach & apricot.