At CafePress we’re all about creativity so we’re introducing Design & List, a new way for you to translate your creativity into CafePress sales. This new offering allows you to quickly and easily create products and list them for sale in the CafePress Marketplace.  You don’t need your own website or web traffic nor do you need to create and manage an online shop.  With Design & List all you need is five minutes and your creative design.

Simply:

1)      Upload and tag your image
2)      We’ll automatically add your image to our products
3)      Share your creativity with friends and family (and you’ll make money when your products sell!)

Get creating with Design & List now!

Design & List is one of three great options for making money at CafePress.  For more choices, check out our affiliate program or open a CafePress shop.  After all, you can’t have creativity without flexibility.

Just in time for Father’s Day and Fourth of July, we’ve expanded our catalog to bring you 3D and animated products. What are they, you ask? Ranging from Greeting Cards to Notebooks, our newly added 3D products offer the illusion of depth and will have you reaching out to touch—just like in a 3D movie (sans the clunky 3D glasses). The animated effect works similarly, allowing you to view two images as you flip the card between the photos.

Making your personalized photo gift is super fun and a cinch. Just choose your product, pick from a variety of awesome designs, then upload your photo (or photos if you’re creating an animated design), and prepare to be dazzled.

Draw some inspiration from some of our favorite styles below, and then get started on your own picture-perfect print!

Father’s Day is around the corner and we’re honoring Dad with a contest all about him!  Is your Dad silly or serious?  Is he into baseball or is camping more his thing?  Maybe he’s a super geek.  We want to know!  Enter the CafePress Father’s Day Pin-fest Challenge*.  Create a Pinterest board showcasing your Pop’s unique personality and you may be the lucky winner of a prize package worth $150.  That sure will come in handy when picking out the perfect gift for the “Big Guy”.

Here’s how to enter:

1)      Follow CafePress on Pinterest
2)      Create a board all about your dad – his style, his hobbies and interests, and how he inspires you.
3)      Title your board “CafePress Father’s Day Pin-fest.”
4)      Pin at least 10 images that represent your dad.  At least 5 should be CafePress products.
5)      Tag each image #cafepressfathersday
6)      When your board is ready, email the URL of your board to contests@cafepress.com

The deadline for submission is June 12^th, 2012.  See contest rules for more information.

Need inspiration?  Check out the CafePress Father’s Day Pin-fest board below.

*NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT IS NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the 50 US & DC, 18 or older. Void where prohibited. Starts 8:00 a.m. PT 5/29/12, ends at 11:59 p.m. PT 6/12/12. See Official Rules for complete details.  Sponsor: CafePress Inc., 1850 Gateway Drive, Suite 300, San Mateo, CA 94404.

Attention, students of style! As today marks the start of Teacher Appreciation Week, let CafePress school you on some great end-of-the-year gifts for your favorite teachers.

Our classic totes can hold everything your teacher needs, from books and supplies to (gulp)…report cards. And best of all, you can find a unique design that best represents your favorite teacher.

Check out this video of our totes featured on The Today Show, and then shop all of our great teacher tote bag designs.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Love the totes featured on The Today Show? Check them out here!

iTeach Tote
French Teacher Tote
Live Love Teach Tote

With Valentine’s Day on the minds of many today, there is a definite rift between those who are all about the love, and those who could care less about the holiday.

Take my visit to the local Trader Joe’s during lunchtime today, where I saw about six men crowded in the flower section, examining bouquets. With love in the air today, how could they not visit the corner full of beautiful blooms?

Or do you feel the urge to burn through all the flowers, chocolates, balloons and hearts galore today with lasers shooting from your eyes?

Well, you’re not the only one – but you don’t share the sentiments of most people for this holiday. According to the CafePress Cultural Barometer®, which tracked the sales of Valentine’s Day gear off of CafePress.com over the last four years, love reigns supreme in the minds (and hearts) of our users. Observe our infographic: since 2008, pro-Valentine’s Day products have outsold anti-Valentine’s Day gear, 75% to 25%.

So what say you on this dreamy 14^th day of February? Are you a lover or a fighter?

The GOP field is dwindling, and like in nature, its survival of the fittest – and only the strongest will survive in this race.

Earlier today, Rick Perry made the announcement that his presidential campaign is over – making him the second candidate in a week to drop out of the race (Jon Huntsman left the race on Monday). Perry also made a point to endorse Newt Gingrich, one of the four remaining candidates in the race.

That leaves Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul to duke it out on Saturday in the South Carolina primary. By Sunday, there may be another candidate we see drop out of the race.

While Romney may seem like the frontrunner, new news from Iowa shows that Santorum – and not Romney – was the actual winner of the caucus of their state by less than 40 votes. This may throw a wrench into what Romney saw as an initial victory, and may in fact boost Santorum moving into this Saturday.

Out of the remaining candidates, whom do you foresee winning? And who are rooting for to go against Obama in November? Keep up with our Cultural Barometer elections Meter graph for all the latest info in politics.

When it comes to phones, the smarter the better.

It’s amazing how even five years ago, the capabilities of your phone were mainly to call or text message people – and now you can make reservations and check in at restaurants, find new songs and make playlists, get step-by-step GPS directions and use a plethora of apps for games and the like. Ultimate organization of your life, in the palm of your hand.

And speaking of smart phones, we have an exciting giveaway running right now. Get a free Android smart phone from CafePress.

Choose from 18 different sharp-looking models that work with Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, add in a simple two-year contract and data feature, and you’re done. Compare at $99 for most on other carrier sites, and you’re saving a nice chunk of change from that piggy bank for a brand new smart phone. Here are some comparative prices on other sites:

To snatch yours up before our offer ends, just visit our free smart phone page and choose your favorite phone model before it sells out.

Then the gloating to your friends and family on how you got a free Android smart phone can commence.

With recent allegations against Herman Cain from former employees starting to take its toll on the businessman-cum-potential Presidential candidate’s popularity, another GOP challenger is riding the rising wave – Newt Gingrich.

No amateur to politics or a presidential race, we’ve seen Gingrich’s recent acceleration in CafePress political-tagged merchandise sales on the latest CafePress Election Meter™ infographic, rising from an average of 2% three months ago, to an 8% jump this week, which puts Gingrich neck and neck in popularity with Mitt Romney (who also has 8%).

However, this jump is still not enough to surpass t-shirt front-runner Ron Paul, who maintains 43% of t-shirt sales from the week ending on November 20th.

Will Newt’s sales be steady on the rise, or will they falter soon to make way for another candidate’s turn in the spotlight? Tune into our CafePress Election Meter page next week to find out!

We have an incredible Groupon deal for you today – $39  gets you a 16″x20″ custom gallery-wrapped canvas! And, it includes shipping!

Let’s break it down… You get an amazing gallery wrapped canvas valued at $124, you save $85 (that’s 69%) and it includes shipping. Make sure to buy today before the deal ends – but rest assured that you have until the end of the year to redeem.

Details can be found here: http://www.groupon.com/deals/cafepress-national-exc-market-november

I don’t know about your gift giving plans, but its possible all of my family members will be receiving a canvas this year (please don’t tell them).

The Presidential Elections spawn a political revitalization of new opinions and platforms, partisan clashes, letdowns and triumphs over the course of months leading up to the most important political day: November 6, 2012 – voting day. The day we as U.S. citizens not only rally our support behind a candidate with our words, but with the action of voting. And for next year’s election, we’re already seeing some interesting metrics unfold within CafePress political sales of merchandise.

Back in 2008 as the race between Barack Obama and John McCain heated up, we took notice of the political designs by our community of users and sales from those designs. It was interesting to see how sales percentages of political-tagged products were on point with each candidate’s popularity in the polls – and we could try to predict who would win the 2008 Presidential Election. Hence, the origin of the CafePress Election Meter™ was born, and was correct in forecasting the inauguration of current incumbent, President Barack Obama, as well as showing CafePress as a Cultural Barometer® of trends in the election cycle.

Fast-forward to today – November 8, 2011. We’re 363 days away from the 2012 Election, and proud to introduce the 2012 CafePress Election Meter for your one-stop shop on politics updates and self-expression through merchandise. To celebrate, you’ll find a special $10 t-shirt available for each candidate, and you’ll also see some unique graphics and charts of trends based on sales percentages of political-tagged merchandise that will update each week on our election meter:

Overall candidate sales – 2011.  This graphic represents total 2011 political-tagged merchandise sales percentages to date for all candidates. This includes all GOP candidates plus incumbent Barack Obama. Ron Paul leads with 41% of the total, followed by Herman Cain with 21% and Obama with 14%. Interestingly enough, this is the first time since 2008 that another candidate (and in this case, two) took the #1 slot away from Obama. Does this mean Obama’s popularity is starting to weaken?

Pro-Obama VS. Anti-Obama. What’s more interesting than comparing Obama to himself? For those who support Obama, and those against him, this infographic conveys the sentiments of those who design and purchase Obama merchandise on CafePress. From sales percentages of Obama-tagged merchandise, 77% is anti, and 23% pro to date in 2011.

Weekly Results. On a weekly basis, you’ll be able to see which candidate saw the largest increase in sales from the previous week. This graphic can communicate what we’re seeing in terms of candidate popularity. Currently, the buzz is around Herman Cain, who dominates 50% of the total sales percentages of political-tagged products for last week; Ron Paul follows Cain with 24%.

Take a look at our elections meter every week to stay up to date on the current trends on the election cycle. Support your candidate of choice, and let’s see where these predictions will go on November 6, 2012!