As a reminder of a recent great vacation to the beach make a beach scene in a clear bottle. It's unique and impressive.
Fill the bottle halfway full of sand. Use a funnel to make the job easier. Add silver or gold glitter if you want to make the sand sparkle. Add small seashells, tiny craft starfish and even pieces of beach glass. The items must be small enough, of course, to fit through the mouth of the bottle. You can add the items one by one with tweezers to get the perfect look or simply drop some down in the sand. Put the cork in and set the bottle upright on a shelf or turn the bottle on it's side. To prevent the bottle from rolling glue a small piece of wood onto one side. Look for a wood piece at a craft store which has indentations for displaying bottles or simply glue to a block of wood.
Miniatures are great for this project since you can literally find thousands of them at a craft store. If a craft boat is small enough and the mouth of the bottle large enough you can put the boat in the sand along with fishing net and a rock. Make sure shells and other beach items are in proportion to the boat. Cola cans, tiny towels, shoes or even articles of clothing can be placed inside of the bottle for a whimsical appeal.
Write on the bottle, if you wish, the town you visited, the name of the beach and the date of the vacation. Or decorate the bottle with simple touches like laying a piece of fishing net partially over the display. Starfish and small shells can be glued to the fishing net.
Cut out small pictures of the family lying on the beach and insert them in the sand. Or you can just cut pictures of the head and place them sticking up out of the sand. Another great idea is to use charm-size frames to lay a row of pictures across the front of the bottle. Align them in a row low on the bottle so that the scene can still be easily viewed. The pictures can be ones of the family during the vacation or ones of other attractions in the area.
