Message in a Bottle

The smooth finish and elegant shapes of bottles have always interested me. Some of my favorites are old bottles found while hiking in the Arizona desert --- worn, colored by sun, and unusual in design --- they sit on a shelf; a collection of years of saving old bottles family members have found. It's a strange collection and probably most people would discard them without a second thought, but collecting 'found' things like bottles, or heart-shaped rocks, or bird's nests make lovely and interesting collections that don't cost a thing to gather. Talking about bottles got me thinking about ways to use them. Most don't have lids, but corks can be purchased at hardware stores and used to top a bottle. Old bottles make nice vases for dried flowers or twigs, or they can be filled with dried pastas or legumes. Old bottles also make a pretty vessel for colored water and when set on a window sill the light shines through and brings cheer to a room. With Valentine's drawing near, a pretty-shaped bottle could be embellished with ribbons, pretty papers (inside to show through), or dried flowers --- and a message-in-a-bottle handwritten and placed inside --- as a special Valentine to someone you hold dear.

A found website containing poetry to fit inside a bottle:
http://www.brightcreationspoetry.com/message.php