Sometimes it just works great to add that personal touch to your presents and cards. I think a lot…read morepeople really appreciate seeing DIY hard work put into their birthday gifts. If the above sounds right up your street, then Rainbow Ribbons is the best place for you to go to purchase your bits & bobs & trinkets, in order to fuel your creative streak. Entering the shop, you'll encounter ribbons as far as the eye can see, which are different widths and in every colour you could possibly imagine. In other words, if you're very picky about how you want your present to look, you'll be catered for perfectly here. The same applies to paper and card, as you'll find a further infinite selection of colours and qualities that are just brilliant for card making enthusiasts. And even if you can't find something that you're after, ask a member of staff, and they're sure to find it. The shop owners are very approachable and friendly, so never fear. Rainbow has literally thought about everything, from single hole punchers to needles to other equipment that even I have no idea what it's used for. But of course, if you're passionate in this area of creativity, then I'm sure you'll know exactly what everything does. This place is really worth travelling to, and it makes me want to start being artistic with presents myself.

From the owner: We stock a large range of card making and craft equipment, tools and materials from all the major…read moresuppliers including Creative Expressions, Crafts Too, Spellbinders, Ranger, Pion Design & many more..... As well as holding our regular classes and workshops all year round. Please see our website for further details.

Earlswood is packed full of little independent businesses, all set out in an old fashioned farm…read morevillage. Earlswood Interiors & Crafts in particular is one of the shops in this collection that truly maintains a unique feel, taking customers back to a bygone era surrounded with a love for handcrafted items. The shop aesthetics are all about the amazing, long-forgotten tradition of wood carving furniture. And for me, this artistic skill beats any cheaply mass-produced house items every time. It's so lovely to find out that places like this still exist, and more so, places that encourage customers themselves to have a go at making their own furniture/ornaments. That's right, the company aren't just selling their products, they're also a little workshop for budding creative people. When entering the small, cosy little shop, the smell of fresh wood immediately hit me. It's one of my favourite smells, and really captures my imagination. Exploring the shelves, I uncovered little wooden mice, mushrooms and owls, which all had unique features urging me to purchase them. If I had enough room at home, the carvings would all be sitting on the table next to me now as I write this review. But unfortunately, I had to leave them back at the shop until I make some space through my own clutter. The shop also sells bigger items, from walking sticks to tables and chairs, which have all been unusually and affectionally created. This little place deserves all the support it can get. Why not transmit the handcrafted passion and bring some character to your own home. I'm certain you won't regret it.

The shop front looks very small from the outside, but once you go through the door, you'll discover…read morea paradise of beads and buttons, catalogued in shades of colour. It really is absolutely amazing that so many different types and colours can fit into one store, which stretches so far back that children and adults alike can lose themselves in exploring a sea of beads. You'll have a hard time attempting to find any shop on the same scale as this in central Birmingham, and the selection of items will literally leave you spoilt for choice. Whether it be to create a bright bracelet or a gothic pendant or a sparkling necklace, you'll want to use every bead within the store. But of course, you've only got a sufficient amount of funds. (I've already seen children nagging their parents to give them more money to spend!) To me, Bead & Button Bazaar is like what Cadbury's is like to the chocolate world, you'll never run out of options, and your artistic nature will flourish accordingly. I guess the shops in Earslwood are quite hard to find, but that's exactly what makes them so magical. This place is definitely a hidden gem, and I think it's great for customers to keep it that way. It builds more excitement when you eventually discover the surprise.

This is another great little shop in the collection at Earlswood Lakes Craft Centre, and sells…read moreeverything you'll ever need for someone's birthday party. It's packed full of cute oddities, like giant fluffy pigs that are so fat they're pretty much perfectly spherical, and great little knitted animals created by the shop owner herself. When I was there last, she was knitting a graduation owl which looked absolutely amazing. I love owls myself, so I really wanted to buy it, but unfortunately she hadn't quite finished. Linzi is very talented, and her stock is always individual and unique, so you have to buy it quick before it goes! This also means that if you buy a present for someone, it is guaranteed to be a one-off. Linzi's is just one of those lovely, homely shops that you'll always remember to visit. I purchased a gingerbread man cup from here as a present, which included a tray and saucer. It only came to £5 which is a brilliant price. Most items are very inexpensive, and the shop owner has a clear passion for quirky products, which reflects great through her personality. She's a true eccentric, and will have you in stitches with her laid back approach and combination of humour. You'll be talking to her in the shop for hours before you know it. I reckon that her kookiness has probably derived from breathing in the helium balloons sold in store. Highly entertaining as well as selling great products. Linzi's is probably my favourite shop in Earlswood.

No village is complete without a sweet shop or an ice cream shop, and this place is both, so…read morethere's a win win situation. I always love a mint choc chip flavoured ice cream on a hot summers day, and one scoop for £1.50 is about the average price at most shops, so you're not losing out there. Other flavours include the usual honeycomb, rum & raisin, vanilla and strawberry, which are basically amongst everybody's favourites. The store quadruples up as a sweets pick & mix shop, a cards shop and sells herbs/potpourri to make the house smell nice. (Humbugs additionally sells fresh farm eggs if you ask nicely enough). There's definitely quite an interesting mixture of things to purchase, but I suppose that means the shop attracts a wide range of customers. The sweets are very varied, from sweet tobacco to gummy dolphins to mint humbugs, weighed in at £1.50 for 100g. Again, a standard price at most sweets shops, so you certainly can't grumble!

Do you struggle to to find the perfect presents and cards for people? I always do, and I can never…read morefind anything interesting or different. I hate having to give people generic things that they can guess before they open them, like chocolate for example. And I hate sending a card where the person knows exactly where you've bought it from. I often visit here and spend loads of money on unique presents and gifts, because there's nowhere else that stocks these unusual items. The store reminds me a little bit of a seaside shop, where people buy gifts for their relatives. But the great thing is, you no longer have to wait to go on holiday to buy unique presents. Ben's is just on the outskirts of Birmingham, and stocks amazing products. There's some great mugs sold here for people who like specific things, like caravenette collectors or golly doll collectors. There's literally a present that suits everybody. The shop also sells canvases, and the owner informed me that his son painted them all. It's just brilliant to find somewhere with such great character and creative passion, especially when all the products are at an affordable price. This place is well worth a visit, and the shop owner is highly sociable.

I only came across this place whilst working in Nechells and it's a hive of activity. If you are…read morelooking for furry fabrics, black out, sparkly vinyl or fun coloured net then you will surely find the colours you're after in here. KBT is a family run business that sell a lot of stock internationally, and because of the safe, high quality of their fabrics schools and education establishments buy a lot of stuff from them. If you live locally and work for a school or third sector organisation they do scrap bags of off cuts super cheap, which is always great for art projects. The guys here are really helpful at finding the fabric you are after or making suggestions with regards to price and alternatives. You can always take a swatch away with you which has all the pricing of the fabric you were looking at. They stock a wide range of spray and fabric paints as well as velcro and cutters. If you plan on visiting you can't access KBT directly off the round-a-bout it faces but via Nechells Place.

KBT is another great secret of mine. You wouldn't come here for dress fabric, or for luxurious…read morefabrics - but instead you'd come here to browse their giant bolts of blackout fabric, their rainbow colours of velvet and velour, their sparkly vinyl on the roll, the huge range of felt and netting, and then a range of 'fun' fabrics besides. A number of their regular clients are from education - schools and nurseries - who come to get fabrics suitable for kids to work with, or who need cheap fabric to create backdrops and costumes for school productions. Because of this, they sometimes sell special binbags full of offcuts for very little money which could be full of loveliness, or could be full of boring beige (one bag I bought had some lime green pleather in it - fab!) Alongside the practical fabrics they have a fair amount of upholstery fabric, and also a big range of fabric paints, spray paints and other textile-related products in cans and jars and pots. It's definitely worth having a mooch around!