Hi there! My name is Sarah Fogle, and I’m a self-taught web designer living in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2010, I started a home DIY blog called The Ugly Duckling House. I created it on Blogger, a free blogging platform, without any knowledge of how websites were built or maintained. The writing part came easily, but since I didn’t want to sink a lot of money into it, I chose not to pay anyone to design my logo, build the site, or design the template for me. My blog was pretty crappy looking, to be perfectly honest.
After a few months, I grew impatient with my blog’s design. I purchased a templating software that promised to give me complete control over my blog’s template, change colors, and tweak my site’s design on my own – all without having to learn special coding skills to get there. But after uploading the finished template, I discovered a problem: the program was better than what I had been doing before, but it wasn’t capable of doing everything I wanted. I had seen other blogs and cool features that I wanted to have on my site. So, what now?
I started small. I picked a new feature to figure out and threw myself into learning how to do it on my own. It wasn’t a quick process. At times, it was incredibly frustrating. I’d break my site and then have to learn how to fix it again. But the strangest thing about it was that I loved it. I was learning in a way that only made me hungry to learn more. Before I knew it, I was coding. HTML. CSS. Those words weren’t scary anymore.
I redesigned my site several times before moving to WordPress in 2013. I suppose I took a while to make the switch because I was scared I wouldn’t be able to figure it out. But to my surprise, learning WordPress was almost instantaneous. I even began learning PHP and creating my own plugins. And finally, my website hit a happy point where I no longer needed to constantly mess with it.
So here I am like a jilted prom date – all dressed up, and nowhere to go. My blog didn’t need my coding skills anymore, but I was having too much fun to stop. I began offering help to a few blogger friends and to my surprise, they all said yes! Since then, it’s been one exciting new project after another. Before I knew it, I needed a new dot com to house all of my web design projects – and Sweet Theory Designs was born.
I work full time, just finished grad school, and have now – almost by accident – started my own small business. For most, that may seem like too much to handle… but I love what I’m doing. I want to help you create your own beautiful blog or small business website, and help you understand how to manage your site on your own. Because the range of needs vary from site to site, I offer a full range of services. Whether you need a small refresh, a complete brand overhaul, or help with your site’s functionality, I’m your gal! Feel free to take a look around to see my work, or fill out my request form. I can’t wait to work with YOU!
Credits:
The header is a combination of several stylish fonts from KevinandAmanda.com. Site is hosted by RFE Hosting and powered by WordPress.
