Well, the media hubbub surrounding Herman Cain’s decision to suspend his presidential campaign is starting to die down. And with Cain out, it may mean no more pizza for the former Godfather Pizza CEO – but in Willy Wonka terms, that doesn’t mean the race for the republican “golden ticket” is over yet. Especially with the newest candidate who just announced his intent to run.

Meet Marvin E. Quasniki – turquoise farmer from Nevada and newest Presidential hopeful.

For someone who is terrified of muppets (The Swedish Chef has NO EYES people), Marvin is actually OK in my book. He’s got some sass, some humor, and most of all, a personality that is likeable to the public. Ask him about his platforms, and you’ll get a simple answer: “No Bulls%*t!” Take a look at the official Marvin E. Quasniki video channel to see what Marvin’s really all about – and you can find all of his official merchandise on CafePress in the Marvin Quasniki shop.

So determine for yourself if you think Marvin is a good candidate for the 2012 election and get your vote in gear. Maybe you’ll see him on the streets near your town. And for my sake, let’s just hope he doesn’t bring The Swedish Chef on the campaign trail with him.

Back in September we hosted a DWTS t-shirt design contest where the winning t-shirt’s creator would win a trip for two to LA for the finale.

Our winner, Tanya Pedersen, shared her experience with us – and what an experience it turned out to be. Here’s a photo of Tanya with Season 13 DWTS winner JR Martinez – holding up her winning t-shirt with a design of that was about none other than JR himself! And he signed it, too. Congrats to Tanya on a job well done…we’re kind of jealous you got to hold the mirror ball trophy.

We understand that the holidays are a stressful time in a lot of ways – working long hours, crazy in-laws to entertain, too many cookies. We don’t want you to eat your feelings this holiday season. But the wonderful thing about the season – in our opinion – is being able to spend quality time with your loved ones. They can live across the country, around the world – but holidays give us all a reason to come together in one (or many) places to just…be.

Maybe this isn’t always possible – especially if finances are tight.

That’s why we’re pleased to launch our CafePress Holiday Sweepstakes – which features a grand prize of $2,000 in FREE airfare (in the form of gift cards), as well as a $250 gift certificate to use on CafePress.com. This basically means a free flight for you or a loved one…and you can come bearing custom gifts from CafePress (Score. Winning.).

All you have to do to enter for a chance to win is visit our Facebook page, like our page, submit an entry form, and you’re entered. Another great tip to remember: the more people you refer who also enter, the more additional entries you get in the sweepstakes!

In the meantime, we hope you’re taking it easy on this Black Friday. Maybe laying around on the couch, or making Thanksgiving leftovers sandwiches. Jingle bells is already stuck in my head.

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!

The decorations. The treats. The ridiculous costumes.

Halloween has to be one of our favorite holidays here at CafePress. Especially when it comes to donning fabtastic costumes, haunted houses, and thinking outside of the box. And the costumes: homemade, store-bought or a mixture of both, it’s always a treat (and sometimes a trick if they’re disguised well enough) to see who wears what, especially the kiddies of CafePressers!

This year, we’re encouraging everyone to share their costumes with us – because we love creativity, self-expression and copious amounts of zombie face paint. (Umm, who doesn’t love that? No. One.) And, if you share a Halloween costume photo on our Facebook page Halloween photo contest, you’ll have a chance to win a FREE custom photo mug. Simply “Like” us on Facebook, upload a photo of your child or pet in a Halloween costume, and VOTE! The top 25 most voted will get those free photo mugs.

Now how’s that for a fun Halloween memory? We think its better than a pillowcase full of candy. Or possibly better than a house-full of kids bouncing off the walls from a candy-induced sugar rush. Coffee is often the answer to life’s many unanswerable questions.

So don’t forget to upload your photo after you’re done trick or treating tonight, and VOTE on your favorite photo! Our contest ends Friday, 11/4. Dress to impress, oh yes.

Have you been waiting on the edge of your seat for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1? Just in time for the November 18 release of the movie, CafePress is excited to launch our official The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 fan portal!  Whether it’s Bella and Edward’s wedding, their honeymoon or their incredible romance that’s got you excited, the portal will showcase your awesome movie-inspired creations. And, since Forever Is Only The Beginning (and timing is everything), you may want to start designing now. Please tag all designs with “breakingdawnmv1” to be included in the fan portal.

We’re thrilled that Summit Entertainment is embracing our CafePress creative community. To be true to The Twilight Saga (and have your designs meet portal requirements), you’ll want to follow the rules. Find them here, at http://shop.cafepress.com/cp/popup/index.aspx?page=create-breakingdawn, then design away!

We ran a fun Sweepstakes for two weeks on our Facebook page that ended on Monday.  We were giving away FREE Flip Mino HD Cameras – 6 to be exact – to each winner. One Flip Mino to keep, and 5 to give away to friends and family. We have our winners! And after thousands of entries, the drumroll…

Congratulations to Susan Macdonald and Ashley Alward who were our lucky winners of 6 Flip Mino HD cameras each.

If you weren’t one of our winners, don’t fret just yet – because you should stay on the lookout for more exciting sweepstakes and contests like these on our Facebook page very soon – not to mention very special, exclusive offers we’ll be posting as well. To stay up to date on all the fun and games to come, Like us on Facebook and stay tuned for more!

Life is about capturing memories. The good times and experiences you make with family and friends. And photos and videos definitely come to the rescue in the capturing memories department.

With that in mind, CafePress is hosting a fun sweepstakes on our Facebook page – Like us on Facebook and submit an entry form, and you’re automatically in the running to win 6 Flip Mino HD cameras.* Yes, you read that right – SIX.

While that number may seem a bit excessive, we like to think of it as paying it forward – you’re helping spread the love far and wide to your friends and family, prompting them to snap those pictures and videos so you can all look back on them in 20 years and laugh at how ridiculous everyone looked from their hairstyles to their fashion. Just kidding.

But really, check out the CafePress Facebook fan page for all of the details and information on how to enter. It’s super easy, and you could be one of two lucky winners to get 6 Flip cameras. So enter, share with your friends (making sure they’ll give you one of the Flips if they win), and keep watch for more sweepstakes on our Facebook page in the future. We hope it’ll make you flip. Bad joke, but good sweepstakes.

* NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited. Open only to persons, who as of Entry, have “Liked” CafePress’ page and filled and submitted the entry form, and who are 18 years of age or older, and legal residents of, and physically located within, the 50 U.S. or DC. Sweepstakes starts at 12:00AM PST on September 19, 2011 and ends at 12:59PM PST on October 3, 2011. Click here for Official Rules.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.