Nativity tin

I'm a little bit addicted to collecting nativity scenes! So it's fun to be able to make some of my own. These are really easy to make, and can be decorated in all sorts of different ways.

You'll need:

A small tin, for example a mint tin

Two clothes pegs

One or two small wooden beads

Two small magnets (either tiny round ones, or magnet strip that you can cut to shape)

A star-shaped button (or you could cut a star from card)

Any other paper, paint etc you'd like to decorate with

1. Cut the pegs to length. Make sure they will fit in the tin when they are lying down.

2. Paint the pegs if you like, and glue the magnets to the bottom.

3. Decorate the tin if you want to - I like to use washi paper and Mod Podge.

4. Cut a small piece of white card and wrap it around one of the beads. Glue the other bead in place as the head, and glue them in place in the bottom of the tin.

5. Glue the star in place in the top of the tin.

6. If you like, attach a ribbon to the tin, so it can be hung in its closed position as a Christmas tree ornament.

Your peg dolls can stand up in the tin, as the magnets in the bottom will secure them. Then, when it is time to clear away the Christmas decorations, they can be laid down flat and the tin can be closed.

You can go as simple or as complex as you like with this project - keeping the pegs and tin completely plain, or decorating them elaborately as I did with the Japanese themed one I made some years ago.