Wear your politics on your sleeve...

In Pennsylvania, it's now okay for people who are voting to wear their political t-shirts and buttons to the polling place. This article talks about the recent ruling. Apparently, the ACLU has received some complaints. But really, as long as they're not campaigning, or pushing their views on anyone, shouldn't they be allowed to wear whatever they like? Isn't that part of free speech? Is it touchy because your at a polling place...? Don't most people who come to a polling place to vote already have their minds made up? Or would a cool t-shirt make them change their mind?
I know this presidential election has tensions running high, people believe very strongly in their candidates, and I think it's great to be passionate about politics. One great thing about a campaign t-shirt, button or coffee cup is, you can get your opinions known, you can open up a dialog about your political views if you like, or you can just spread the word about what you believe in without getting into the details.
I think voters who show up wearing campaign t-shirts and buttons shouldn't be prevented from voting.
And here's the thing...if you need a campaign button, bumper sticker, yard sign or t-shirt featuring your favorite candidate, you can get yours at my store, www.creativethoughttshirts.com.

Squidoo Lenses

I'm not sure if you're familiar with Squidoo, but it's pretty cool and fun. I'm including some links here to Squidoo "lenses" that I've created, check 'em out! Here's one on Barack Obama wear/buttons/ political swag that can all be found online.

This one is all about going green, yes it features my online store FreshGreenTees.com, but there are a lot of resources and articles too, on other great recycling products and hypermilling.

If you're going to New Orleans, I urge you to check out my fun things to do in New Orleans lens. My husband and I attended the annual Jazz and Heritage festival, and it was fabulous. The food there was wonderful, as well.

One Squidoo lens that is close to my heart, is the what to do in Madison, Wisconsin lens. As Madison is my hometown, and a great place to live or visit, I'm pretty fond of it.

If you're not familiar with the concept of hypermilling, I urge you to check out my Hypermiling and Smiling lens.

Politics and creativity

So, I really thought my Barack Obama Obumpa fist pump t-shirt would be a big seller at my t-shirt store. I mean, I thought the design was clever, and the play on Obama's name seemed clever, but perhaps my son is right. Perhaps it is a lame pun. What do you think?
It's so hard for me to combine creativity with politics. I mean sure, there's the name of the candidate, and the symbols, (American flag, peace sign, etc.), but how far can you really stray from the status quo? Then I see some incredibly unique designs, and I wish I had created them! My 2 most unique designs for Obama are can be found here.. and here.
But even I admit I need to make something more unique and exciting. And when trying to come up with a creative thought, it just seems different with a political theme. I get caught up in the red, white and blue, and the ordinary, expected things. I wish I could erase every political design I've ever seen, I think they've influenced me over the years. It's kind of like really bad tv commercials, you seem to remember them, so I guess they've done their job.
And yet, my favorite way to get inspired to come up with new, creative ideas for my t-shirts, is to go to the used book store, and spend hours there looking through the art books. While I usually spend some money there, the point is to find things that inspire me, not to copy other artists' ideas. It's great because there is so much original art in the world, it makes me think that I can come up with something original too. If I put blinders on. But then, so much of the outside world is great for inspiration, I guess it would just be nice to have a filter. I do like my yoga t-shirts though, especially this one.
Please check out my t-shirt and gift store, any feedback is greatly appreciated.
And if you have any ideas on how you get inspired, or what helps you be creative, I'd love to hear them!

Barack Obama and the Fist pump

Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle gave each other a celebratory fist pump, (fist pump, fist bump, knuckle touch, whatever you want to call it). I didn't think too much of it, but the news had a field day with this. They showed it over and over, in slow motion, had people commenting on it, decided that this was just another example of how Obama is in touch with the younger generation, how Barack Obama is hip and cool. Not to mention, way younger than John McCain. My husband laughed and said "are they kidding? I've had an old white guy from Indiana doing the fist pump at me for 3 years, at work". I laughed. SO then I thought, does this really show that Barack Obama is young and hip, or does it just show that the media is in love with him? I'm not sure, but they were making such a big deal out of the whole bumping knuckles thing...I just had to come up with a shirt for my online shirt store. It had to be original, had to be funny...what to do, what to do? Finally I came up with this...I call it Barack Obumpa. I thought it was kind of cute and clever, then my 11 year old walked by and said "that's kind of a lame pun." So, now I'm not so sure. I old him it will probably catch on like wildfire, but he may be right. What do you think?

McDonald's-love the fries, hate my thighs

So, the Center for Commercial Free Childhood sent me a great update...see below!


"Thanks to the efforts of CCFC members, McDonald's has ended its controversial report card advertising in Seminole County, Florida. Children in kindergarten through fifth-grade had been receiving their report cards in envelopes adorned with Ronald McDonald promising a free Happy Meal to students with good grades, behavior, or attendance. CCFC was alerted to the advertising by Seminole County parent Susan Pagan and launched a campaign which resulted in nearly 2,000 letters to McDonald's and plenty of bad publicity for the fast food giant. The following is CCFC's statement on the McDonald's decision to end the program.

This is a good day for parents and children in Seminole County and anyone who believes that corporations should not prey on children in schools. We are pleased that McDonald's is listening to parents all over the country who believe that report cards should not be commercialized.

In the absence of needed government regulation to protect schoolchildren from predatory companies like McDonald's, the burden is on parents to be vigilant about exploitative marketing aimed at children. One parent can make a difference. There is no doubt that the Seminole County ads would have continued - and violated McDonald's pledge to stop advertising in elementary schools - had one parent not called attention to the problem. And when that parent was joined by other parents and CCFC members, one of our nation's largest corporations was forced to back down. What we accomplished in Seminole County should put all marketers on notice: advertising has no place in our nation's schools.

Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to write to McDonald's. Those of you who wish to acknowledge McDonald's decision to pull the branded report cards can email Kathleen Pyle, McDonald's director of family and kids marketing, at Kathleen.Pyle@us.mcd.com.

Working together, we can reclaim childhood from corporate marketers.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
www.commercialfreechildhood.org

Support CCFC. We rely on our members because we will not compromise our commitment to children by accepting corporate funding. To make a tax-free contribution, please visit http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/donate/"

Now, I LOVE McDonald's french fries...fresh, hot, salty...they are one of my favorite things in the whole world! You can tell by the size of my thighs, I like fries!
But, I don't think they should sneak their corporate brainwashing techniques into elementary schools! Or any schools for that matter!

Anyway, good for the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood, be sure to check out their website.

So, my t-shirt selling biz is going pretty well. I sold my first dog t-shirt! Someone bought a Barack Obama t-shirt for themselves, and a matching one for their dog! Yeah! I think that's pretty cool. I really like designing the t-shirts, coffee mugs, etcetera, but trying to figure out the SEO and marketing stuff is making my brain hurt.
It's really a lot more difficult than I thought. And, as it's January and no more Christmas sales...it's a little discouraging right now, not tons of sales. But I'll keep plugging away. I purchased my own domain name and site, separate from CafePress through cpshops, but linked to my CafePress shop. I can supposedly do a lot more with it, but it's scripted, using Perl program, and I am totally lost trying to figure it out right now. Perhaps I bit off more than I can chew, as they say. Anyway, check out my new site, and feel free to pass the link on to your friends! http://www.creativethoughttshirts.com