The Lombard method is an artists studio and exhibition facility located on Lombard Street in…read moreBirmingham's cheapside district. I ventured into TLM to see an exhibition by visiting Polish artists and found myself in what seemed to be a former workshop, with dusty red brick walls and original wooden beams. Contrasting nicely with the white walls of the exhibition space, The Lombard Method hosts artists who work in various mediums and proved a a great place to talk with both resident and visiting artists over a complimentary glass of wine.

I first met Rebecca Chitty when she agreed to have a stand at the Birmingham Vintage Festival I…read moreorganised. The cakes went down really well and Rebecca had such a lovely looking stand that is impossible not to draw people in. The theme was Britpop (this was in 201) so it gave Rebecca a good practice run on the red, white and blue cakes that have been the rage through this year's Jubilee events. Chitty's cupcakes are on the small side (rather than the huge original American ones) so perfectly portioned for one person. There is every flavour you can imagine and although I love vanilla and lemon ordinarily and not a big fan of chocolate, even I was tempted recently by Chitty's chocolate specials; Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Hazelnut and Malteser all went down well!

From the owner: Chitty's Cake Company is a bespoke cake and cupcake business providing all sorts of personalised…read moretreats for customers all over Birmingham. From weddings to birthdays, anniversaries, thank yous and everyday treats, we cater for every need. Our cake designs are unique and we try to handmake all decorations so they really are special and made just for you. We have a wide variety of flavours available and even make these to your own special request (peanut butter and chocolate was our most recent creation!) We also run lots of cake and cupcake decorating classes for all levels of skill at our Custard Factory studio. If you want a couple of hours learning something fun, edible and new we have short classes that start from £30 for 2 hours. For those who want to know more, we run a 12 hour course over 4 weeks that really helps you get to grips with the technical and creative sides of cake making and decorating.

Boxxed is So Hot Right Now. If there is a crazy party, promo or art event happening in Digbeth, you…read morecan bet your bottom dollar it's going to be at Boxxed Warehouse. Digbeth as a whole has been going from strength to strength in the last couple of years, but with the wealth of art, streetfood and cultural events going on in the area; it has become the hottest place in Brum to get your art on and see something new. I first became aware of Boxxed on a summers day wander around the area. With it's striking painted design out the front, I had to wonder what was housed within. From then, it received some attention around City Of Colours (where street artists took over this side of the City) and has been more and more talked about following it's hosting of "House of Mask" and then "Eye Candy Festival" over the weekend. Boxxed is primarily a shared office space where entrepreneurs or small businesses can hire a space for co-working. I haven't ever visited in this capacity, but should I ever be looking for a casual base; I would definitely give it a visit. It's also an events space which can be hired and offers a licensed bar on site (bottled beer starts at around £2.50). I finally popped in as it was the site for the "Eye Candy Festival" launch last Thursday night. It's the perfect venue for this kind of large event as it offers a lot of space and the option to arrange the inside of the venue as you like. On our visit it housed art installations, a stage area (for live painting and Deejays), a bar, a smaller area for live music and several little separated areas for different artists to showcase their craft. It's a warehouse, essentially. There's not a lot more that I can say apart from it's the perfect space to hold events (especially those which are high concept) as it can be tweaked, decorated and designed to reflect the perfect aesthetic an organiser might be trying to create.

This venue is on Floodgate Street, just off Digbeth high st and approx. a ten min walk from the…read moreCity centre. Basically it's a blank canvas as lots of events go on here. I visited 'House of Mask' which was a Cubanisto promo event which was great fun.Then this week I went to 'Eye Candy' which was a creative event for artists to show off their artworks and sell some of their goods. There is a bar which has a range of beverages that change depending on the event. The toilets vary in cleanliness depending on the clientele (!), but everyone seems really friendly in there and I like the fact its actually quite warm despite the fact it's basically a warehouse!;)

I still dont think I'm fully over this event. It was jut so surreal and out there - very East…read moreLondon vibe, but perhaps the only thing that didnt equate to East London was a bunch of council types who somehow where let through the front door. You enter H.O.M and have to confess something, which I cant repeat here as it was very blue, so then you exchange your confession for a token to enter in the the House. Then you're greeted by what can be described as a creepy blonde guy dressed all in white asking you to enter at your peril and discover the spirit within and gives you what is a puzzle piece. As you enter, you're given a free bottle of Cubanisto beer and then lead in the actual club space, which is very dim, ultra violent, neon and gives off a rather macabre feel. We decorated our masks and then heralded a very crazy night of beer, cute little Cuban snacks and lots of photos! What a great event.

As PR events go, this wasn't all that…read more I went along expecting to see some great artists, free merchandise and get a feel for the brand. Instead, we were offered ONE free drink and the bar was serving their own drinks at £3 a bottle!? Couldn't believe it. Not only were they stingy on their merch, they then try to charge an arm and a leg for us to enjoy it. I did enjoy the skeleton key idea where you had to create a mask of three separate parts to then be given a key that is powered by NFC to open a box. I won a free pulled pork toasty, which was very tasty admittedly. The entertainment was average. I liked the DJ but they used a beatboxer which they created so much hype about with a "Countdown to Nightrise". He wasn't worth it. It felt like a bunch of out of touch people sat around a table and said, you know what, kids love beatboxers, let's get one. The drama of the entrance into the event had an interesting feeling, confessing your sins, walking through one by one. The problem was it made no sense and had no relation to the brand. The whole event tried to hard and at the same time, didn't try enough. We left to get our dance on down Hurst St, much more entertaining.