Project: Memory Jar

Step 1: Find a glass bottle from a finished beverage or a jar from jam (best if it is completely transparent, but a tint of color may be tolerable). Put the bottle in your sink and run it under hot water to more easily remove the label.

Step 2: Collect interesting materials; dried flowers, leaves, etc. i used gravel, pebbles, and broken shells and sand from the beach. You can also decide upon beads, scraps of colored paper or cloth, and buttons.

Step 3: Decide how you are going to distribute the materials in the container. I did mine in layers: large stones on the bottom, smaller ones on the top, as well as debris, which I made from a mix of gravel and shattered shells. i repeated this over and over again until the bottle was completely full.

Step 4: You can add extra ornaments to the very top of the container. I used straw, driftwood washed ashore, and seagull feathers scattered on the beach. i also utilized sea glass (shards of glass from such as broken soda bottles that people leave on their stay, and that wash into the ocean. They are smoothed by the pounding waves and tossing currents. Sea glass come in an array of colors and hues, not sharp at all to the touch, and have a neat frosty finish.) to decorate the very end of the final layer. You may also decide upon artificial flowers, real blossoms, or make your own abstract concoction.

Tips: most bottles have a strip of sticky glue on a part of the surface to hold the label in place. You can use that to paste on a ribbon and tie a bow. This gives an elegant touch. To make your bottle unique, add something personal, like a card unto the sticky stuff. Also, if you have a shortage of some pretty materials, tip the container to the side, so it lands on the side. Continue pilling up a layer in this fashion, making sure the lesser resources fall on the inside. Put it in a natural position. You should find they are displayed clearly on the outside, and are now visible. I displayed my single blue snail shell like this.