One World One Heart 2011

Hello Everyone! 

Thanks so much for visiting my Design Spark! Blog. I am so excited to participate in the fifth Annual One World One Heart 2011 - a worldwide event for Bloggers. This post will remain at the top of my page until February 17th, 2011. Check below for more recent posts:)

I N T R O D U C T I O N S:

For those new to my Design Spark! Blog and visiting from OWOH, let me introduce myself to you. Here is a little bit about me: My name is Pam Ansted Uller. I am a Designer from the US who lives in the State of Michigan,( aka "The Mitten" covered in snow right now!) I have been an Artist for most of my life. It is the one thing that defines the essence of who I am. I own Ashford Design Studio where I get the opportunity to create all kinds of creative design, marketing and sales for whoever needs it.

A B O U T  M E:

I am an Art DIrector and Graphic Artist with fine art tendencies, although it has been a really long time since I have created what I consider fine art other than photography. I have been designing, photographing, drawing, sewing & creating artwork for myself, family, friends and now clients since I was in high school. You name it, I have probably done it-LOL and had fun while doing it too! I could start listing some of the artistic endeavors that I have experienced over the years, but that would actually be a good idea for a post! My first artistic memory goes back to drawing something in Kindergarten that people were impressed by, so follow me and you'll read about more sometime!

F A M I L Y:

My life is pretty busy, but then whose life isn't?!  I have an awesome supportive husband Brian and two great kids- Aaron & Alyssa plus two happy cats, Oreo & Kit Kat. My family is my world and love them dearly. I have a huge extended family- believe me, 38 first cousins is alot, plus many more close connections.

G O A L S:

My aspirations for this year include getting back in touch with my roots to create more inspirational fine artwork "just because", not for someone else as a job. I'm a BIG "Do-It-Yourselfer." I love to share ideas, hence starting my blogs- I'm still relatively new to it. However, I consider myself a private person. This is the first time in a long time that I have shared anything personal about me with the "Virtual" world without knowing who will actually discover me*. This sharing is actually a good thing I think, as our lives are defined by the connections we make. 

C O M M E N T  A N D  W I N!

As a part of this event, I am offering a chance to win a lovely " Design Spark!  Comment & Win Prize". It's a Flower Market Door Bucket from Willow House. I have created a pretty Spring silk flower bouquet to display in this door bucket. It's a really pretty way to make a statement to welcome everyone to your home.

H O W  T O  E N T E R:

Everyone gets ONE chance to enter to win. 
To get a chance to win, MAKE A COMMENT on this post.

I will put your name on a ticket and draw one ticket at midnight on February 17th, 2011. I will post the name of the winner here too. Good Luck! I know you'll love this beautiful designer product. It retails on my Willow House web site for $39.96 plus the cost of the flowers, so this prize is worth approximately $52. Thanks for entering. I hope you enjoy exploring my blog and leave inspired to do something creative!  

I am looking forward to connecting with more extraordinary people so check out my Design Spark! blog world. Follow me, if you find my musings interesting. I hope you do! :)

G O O D  B Y E  F O R  N O W!

For others who have wandered by and want to discover what "One World One Heart 2011" is about, click on the button on the right, it will take you to links to discover it for yourself.  Special thanks to LIsa who had an idea and started an awesome event.

 *(Except for Twitter! my personal recommendation for self therapy when your loved ones don't care to hear you talk about the importance of nothing that is earth shatteringly important, but it's in your mind and you need to get it out! BTW you don't really want to read those tweets, they are pretty random!) 

The Beauty of Designing for the Internet

The best thing about putting your ideas up on a blog, or web site, is that it is organic. What I mean by that can be better explained by the definition of the word organic: developing in a manner analogous to the natural growth and evolution characteristic of living organisms; arising as a natural outgrowth. In everyday language- it means that like a living organism, things on your site can always changing and evolving. Think of a small baby and then think of that same person 2 years later. Way bigger and more knowledgeable and their ability to communicate with people and the amount of people they communicate with greatly expands, if you know what I mean...

So, if you want to share your ideas, a blog is a great way to be able to do that, even if it is just a form of self-help therapy for you to start off with. Every one including the kids are starting them. My 16 year old Alyssa has to make a blog and post in it at least 3 times a month for her Journalism class in high school. A Blog can also serve a purpose too, especially for a entrepreneur or small business owner. You can share your expertise and let it help you expand your connections or network!

Now when I started this back in August, I honestly wasn't really sure how I what I was going to use this for. But being first and foremost graphic designer/art director, I felt it would be a great way to do some graphic design experimentation. You see, more and more, all kinds of advertising design is being used on the internet so for my Ashford Design business, it is imperative that I keep up and be knowledgeable on what the latest trends are. Blogging is Big Business... Yes, Big Business... that made me think about how I could really be able to share my wealth of knowledge about all kinds of design and use it to not only share with others who might be interested, but use it to grow my different businesses.

Now in another post, I will give you some more specific's about what I found out in my "independent study" about blogging, but for now the idea that I really wanted to share this: Design and advertising on a blog is unlike something that you design and print. You can get stuck with a bunch of business cards, flyers, brochures or catalogs that can become outdated very fast. And usually you need to print a minimum amount, or if you print just a few, it is very costly. 

On a blog or web site, you can constantly be changing what information you are sharing, even after you first share it, revisions and updates are a snap to do. You can also change the theme, style, look, sound and intentions of it pretty easily too. And this is a good thing! 

If you have been following me since I first started Create and Decorate, you will know that I have had at least 4 different formats and designs. I now have another name, Design Spark. Part of the reason that I felt the need to change the name is that too many people were messing up typing in the name and not finding my blog. So I worked on more names and felt that Design Spark would be a good replacement. 


I have finally expanded my ideas on what I will share in this blog. In a nutshell, it has evolved into a much better and more rounded space and I hope that you will continue on this journey about design with me and that I will be able to inspire you about all kinds of design.