A while ago I chanced upon a thread on Mumsnet in which a member invited suggestions for jokes to slip inside her children's lunchboxes. Now, I imagine many of you are familiar with this practise, but to me it was a novel concept. Sometimes I might have slipped a reminder note into my children's schoolbags or a Post-It to wish them good luck on a test, though nothing on a regular basis.

I began to wonder whether other parents did this and asked Princess whether her friends found jokes in their packed lunches. "No," she replied, followed inevitably by: "but I'd love it if you'd do that for me!"

Luckily, Google and Pimterest furnished me with a plethora of free printables for our oddly enjoyable new habit. There are notes, jokes and styles for all occasions, from slushy Valentines to math questions; clever food puns, literary quotes, healthy encouragements and even optical illusions!

For the friends and mums who have asked where I found these varied and amusing printables, here is a gallery of my favourite 50 lunchbox note printables.

As my children and I were all labouring under the effects of persistent colds, I remembered a "recipe" for herbal steam tablets in the January edition of Daphne's Diary. Made using bicarbonate of soda and essential oils, these tablets are intended to release lovely smelling vapours to invigorate while you shower and they're very easy to make at home.

Here's how we made our own herbal steam tablets, along with a few tips we learned along the way.

Taking the time to appreciate the little things which make each day special is one of life's greatest pleasures. A handwritten note sent by snail mail to a friend is sure to brighten up their day. Writing with pen and ink is more personal than text printed out on a screen.

One person who understands this is Lindsey, founder of Neatography: a paper goods subscription service which sends out surprise mailings each month or quarter to paper-lovers all over the world. As you may recall, I featured Neatography in my recent post about subscription services for stationery lovers, and was thrilled when Lindsey offered to send Neatography's February package for me to review.

After a bumpy ride and a long stay at my neighbour's house (!), my package finally arrived with me this weekend. For those of you who - like me - enjoy the pleasure of letterpress cards, washi tape and beautiful stickers to adorn your outgoing mail, here is a complete review of February's stationery goodness from Neatography.

As our schedules become even more busy, we often forget to take the time to enjoy the small things which make us happy. Simple experiences, such as enjoying a coffee with a friend or seeing a child's face light up as they smile, are moments which can make us feel more content about our lives. As the 100 Happy Days project explains:

The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, is the base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being.

As I'm sure any parent will attest, any tips to help life with children run more smoothly are vastly appreciated!

To help make life easier, I've collected 25 genius tips for parents for all aspects of family life. From making sure you can find baby a bib in a hurry to helping your pre-schooler learn how to share, you're sure to find a helpful idea or two.

Whether you need a quick last-minute gift for the one you love, or would simply like to adorn your walls with romantic poetry, here are two beautiful vintage-inspired printables for you.

These printables feature A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns and Love's Secret by William Blake, arguably two of the greatest romantic poems of all time (and certainly two of my personal favourites!).

Subscription boxes are a relatively new phenomenon to me. While I've certainly heard of Birchbox, Glossybox and other favourites, the thought of parting with money every month for mystery samples I might never use was a major repellent.

So when I chanced upon The Latest in Beauty website, I was pleasantly surprised. Rather than subscribing month-to-month, this site offers boxed collections on an as-and-when basis with listings of all the products they include.

The limited edition Winter Collection seemed like the perfect box for my initial foray into the world of beauty boxes through the mail: with virtually everything you could want to fill up your cosmetic bag, I was happy to give this a try. And I was certainly not disappointed.

My apologies to Glamumous readers from overseas: Latest in Beauty currently only delivers within the United Kingdom. Feeling rather impressed with my purchase, I've decided to review it anyway for the benefit of anyone in the UK considering whether or not to buy a Winter Collection box for themselves.

I have a confession to make: I'm addicted to stationery. Pretty notepads; pens in every thickness, style and colour; labels and stickers; pencil pots and cases to house my ever-growing collection... I'm one of those people who really needs to avoid walking past Paperchase after payday: even though most of my written work is typed, I'm still able to convince myself that I'll find some use for yet more vintage postcards or that stylish letter set!

Having become interested in the trend for monthly subscription boxes, Princess and I wondered if there were services available for us to purchase pretty stationery to satiate our cravings for paper. To our delight we discovered there were quite a few to which we could subscribe for regular parcels of notepaper, greetings cards, scrapbook ephemera and everything between!

In this post, you'll find 20+ such subscriptions for paper lovers, many of which offer international delivery. From greetings cards to novelty papers and even books, if you enjoy paper the way I do, you're sure to find a service to fulfil your needs!

For the past month I've been collecting ideas and inspiration in preparation for a complete home makeover. Pinterest has proved a valuable tool for my research: I've found dozens of amazing DIY projects which are not only easy, they're pretty thrifty too!

Over the net few months, we plan to try several of these projects as we work through our home (and I'll be sure to post them on Glamumous for you to see the results). In the meantime, I've collected my favourite DIY tutorials in this post to provide inspiration and ideas for your own home improvement projects.

For many families, the cost of home appliances greatly outweighs that of furnishing a home. So once we have fully kitted out our home with all the appliances we need, we need to ensure they last as long as possible before being replaced.

Keeping everything in tip-top condition needn't be a chore. By working in a few minutes of appliance maintenance into your cleaning routines, you can ensure your expensive electrical items last way longer than their warranties!

More children than ever are turning their attention to digital literature than regular books. High street bookstores are on the decline, and while many of us may still be attached to our regular reading material, it makes sense to embrace our children's interests by seeking out eBooks to pique their interest in the written word.

There are many, many sites from which we can download children's eBooks, but as any parent understands certain books are just better than others. The quality of language, illustration and storytelling set some books apart from their competitors... and of course it's even better if those books can be found for free!

Here is a list of sites which provide eBooks for children of all ages which you can access for free on a tablet or PC. Many provide downloads (in PDF, ePub or MOBI format) while others must be accessed online. Wherever possible, I've tried to include links to "tablet-friendly" eBooks, though in some cases you may find it easier to download materials to your PC and transfer them to your preferred reading device.

After the holiday festivities, our home is a cluttered, disorganised haven. The feeling of "Christmas" had faded by January first, yet I didn't take down the decorations until last night. "There are twelve days of Christmas!" I reasoned, but the truth is that I always feel our house feels barren and less "homely" once the tree is taken down.

The state of our homes have a significant impact on our perceived quality of life. To dissipate those January blues, try taking on a challenge to rejuvenate and revolutionise your home at the start of this new year.

In this post, I've included four of my favourite "challenges" to help us clean, de-clutter and refresh our personal spaces. There's no need to try them all at once: instead, choose one which would have the most significant impact, or select the elements from each which appeal to your own needs. Each challenge is broken down into bite-sized chunks which can be completed in only 15-30 minutes a day.

I hope you and your loved ones are enjoying a wonderful start to 2014! Here's a brief reflection of Glamumous this past year, plus a little hint of what to expect in the months to come.