Blog Posts by Martha Stewart

All it takes to make delicately scented tablets is a little mixing, some gradual spritzing, and a few minutes of molding. When you're finished you'll have dozens of effervescent treats in a variety of shapes and colors that will scent and soften bath water as they bubble. They make great gifts or keep them for your own! Experiment with colors and scents; mix yellow and red to make orange, for example, and try blending lemon with lavender.

Tools and Materials

• Baking soda
• Cornstarch
• Citric acid
• Spritzer bottles
• Food coloring
• Glass bowl
• Essential oil
• Baking molds

How-To
1. Sift 1 3/4 cup baking soda, 1 cup citric acid, and 2 cups cornstarch through a sieve to remove chunks. To make different tints, fill small spritzer bottles with water and add about 6 drops of food coloring to each.

2. Pour 1 cup of powdered mixture into a glass bowl. Lightly spritz, stirring after each spritz, until powder is desired color. Add water slowly, so mixture does not fizz. If mixing

My dogs are such good listeners, letting me prattle on about my weight, the deficit, the weather. But as important as those topics are, the words I really want them to pay attention to are two life-saving commands.

"DOWN!" Returning from a romp in New York City's Central Park, my friend Alice stopped to reattach her dog Jet's leash when the tennis ball he'd been chasing rolled into a busy street. Jet thought, Don't worry, I've got this one, as he bolted into traffic to rescue it.

Alice bellowed, "Down!" and Jet immediately dropped into position while cars pummeled his ball into oblivion.

Plus: How to Retrain a Bad Dog

"I believe the most important thing we can teach our dog is 'Down,' says Kevin Behan, author of Natural Dog Training. It's one of the first commands he teaches. "Most people yell a dog's name in a crisis, which is often a mistake," Behan says. That just makes him excited but gives no direction. "There's no instinct in a dog to come when called if

Home decorating is not all about paint colors and expensive furniture, playing with texture is a great way to add unique touches to any room.



Embellish a Classic Piece
The frames of these rectangular mirrors are smartly outfitted in midnight-blue velvet ribbon. Lined up next to one another and hung above a buffet, they add sophistication and catch the light in the room.

Velvet Ribbon How-To
Use a wooden frame and velvet ribbon a bit wider than the frame's width.

1. Make a paper template of one of the frame's sides, mimicking the mitered corners.

2. Paint frame's inner and outer edges in a color similar to that of the ribbon. Cut ribbon slightly longer than the template, and then iron on strips of fusing to the back of the ribbon.

3. With a pencil, trace template onto fusing. Cut out. Repeat for other three sides. Place each ribbon, fusing side down, on frame; with a towel on top, iron on a low setting to adhere.


Bring Nature's Texture Indoors
Birch poles sliced

Is it too hot to heat up the oven or even grill on the patio? Create a full meal with just your microwave. You won't believe how easy and delicious these recipes are.

Minestrone Soup
This hearty, fresh version of the popular Italian soup is packed with vegetables, beans, and flavor -- and takes a mere 10 minutes in the microwave.

Everyday Food, December 2006

• Prep Time 15 minutes
• Total Time 25 minutes
• Yield Serves 4

Ingredients
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 8 ounces green beans, stem ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup couscous • 1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 can (15.5 ounces) navy beans, drained and rinsed
• Coarse salt
• Flat-leaf parsley leaves (optional)
• Shaved Parmesan cheese, for garnish (optional)

Directions
1. In a 3-quart

No one knows corn like Iowans. Here are some tips for preparing it, straight from the Hawkeye State. Master a few quick cooking tricks and you can take this classic to new heights of deliciousness.

Prep for the Grill
Finding the sweet spot between done and burned can be tricky with grilled corn. To get just-right results every time, soak ears in cold water for an hour, and then grill in the husk for 20 minutes, turning occasionally. Let the corn cool slightly. Remove husks and silk before serving.

Get All the Goodness
When you slice off the kernels, take an extra step and "milk" the cob. It will yield liquid that adds intense flavor to soups or sautes. Holding the ear of corn upright in a bowl, use a paring knife to slice off the kernels, then scrape the cob with the back of the blade to extract the creamy liquid.

Don't Waste the Cobs
After a meal of corn and lobster, save cobs and shells to use in stock -- it makes fantastic risotto and chowder. Combine cobs, shells, and aromatics

While walls and windows get a lot of attention -- in the form of paint, paper, and drapes -- an unexpected opportunity is, ahem, knocking. Adorn the door! "It's a chance to do something little and have something big come out of it," Martha Stewart Living's Kevin Sharkey says.

Indeed, in one bold but affordable gesture, you can enhance a room and play down a door's hollow-core blandness. With the addition of wallpaper or applique, a door can become a work of art. A door is also the perfect spot to try a daring color in a low-commitment way. (Plus, because it's such a small-scale change, it's renter-friendly).

The five projects here require just a few readily available materials and some surprisingly simple techniques. All these looks work on just about any door. The options, really, are wide open.

Painted Shapes The beauty of this project is in its simplicity: The thickness of the artist's tape will determine the thickness of your lines. You'll use