Do It Yourself: Message in a Bottle Necklace

I was looking at jewelry on the UO website and began admiring this adorable piece called Message in a Bottle Necklace...

However, the more I was looking at it, I started to think... Gee, I could actually make that myself!

And then I remembered about the mini bottle I bought at some event held by my local middle school.

Finding the bottle in my jewelry box, I headed straight for Michaels.

Once I got there, I went to buy a pack of thin sterling silver chains (you could make the necklace with a golden chain too), silver (or gold) wires, a pack of toggles (clasps made up of a ring and bar), and a pack of iridescent swirl green glass beads (you could also just get a golden or silver anchor to match the UO design, but I wanted mine to look a bit different). (Note: if you are planning to make this necklace and do not have a mini bottle, I am sure you can find a bunch of them somewhere at Michaels or online... but if you still need help, just comment on this post and I'll be sure to answer)

Then, after my successful trip to Michaels, I headed home and began the project...

First, I cut the chain to the length I wanted it to be (I made it long, because I was not planning to add a clasp, but I will still be using the toggles for this project)...

Then I took a ring (from the toggles) and attached it to one end of the chain with a piece of wire.

Once that was done, I took one glass bead and put it through the other end of the chain... with the ring following it.

After that, I took another small piece of wire and shaped it, with a pair of scissors, into a lollipop shape... once I did that, I poked the pointy end of the "lollipop" into the cork of the bottle (you may also want to hot glue it in to make it's more secure).

Finally, I used more pieces of wire to attach the bottle to the chain.
Now I have a necklace... but, there is still one more thing missing... something to put inside the bottle!
You could just put a little love note inside, like what UO and I did, or you could be a bit more creative and do a little something else...

I might even visit the beach, sometime, and add sand and a little shell to my new masterpiece :)

xoxo,
Yvonne

p.s. sorry for the poor quality of the pictures (though, I kind of like the blue tint)... I am in need of a new camera! My old camera was being stubborn and made me use the camera on my phone... hopefully, I'll get a new camera soonish?