I'm gonna come clean...

& tell you how long I've been stalking Karla Nathan @ Karla's Cottage. Now don't be alarmed...I'm not dangerous (Karla, please don't retract your invitation to come to Kansas & have tea some time...I promise I'm not dangerous! LOL) but I LOVE Karla! I love my life & I love being me (I really do!) but if there was anybody I'd want to trade places with, it would be Karla. She has amazing style, even more amazing talent, a wonderful sense of humor, an open heart, a great love for dogs, a supportive husband, a fantastic farmhouse & she's very devoted to her family....plus she gets paid to do what she loves to do. All the must-haves on my Dream Life list! Don't get me wrong, I am also fortunate to be endowed w/ several of these must-haves...I have a supportive husband, a good sense of humor (at least I crack myself up sometimes!), my little doggies & I'm very devoted to my own wonderful family. I'm very thankful & blessed to have what I have, don't get me wrong. But ooohhhh, to have Karla's style, her artistic talent & that fabulous farm house would just be the cherry on my sundae of life!

I've been an admirer of Karla & her work long before she had a blog or I even knew who she was. See, I have a magazine obsession. I've gotten better as some of my favorites have dropped out of sight (Country Homes, Mary Engelbreit *sigh*, etc) & since I've discovered Somerset, I'm much more selective. Anyway, I keep all copies of Romantic Homes, Romantic Country, ME *another big sigh* in tact (as well as "the expensive but worth it" Somersets) but all others, I clip out the article that inspires me & save it in folders, all categorized according to season. And every season I go through them, seeking inspiration for my seasonal decorating. Time after time, I came across Karla Nathan's name in my clip-outs, & in the other magazines, but it was still some time, after I discovered her blog, before it hit home who she was. When it did, I became uncharacteristically shy & didn't comment on her beautiful posts that so inspired me. And then one day, I did leave a comment....& she visited my blog & left one for me! Sent me all into a tither...it was like having the movie star you're crushing on, write you back!!!! (Don't give me that look...I don't feel that way about Karla *grins*...mine is a purely platonic crush) And then I became realllllly shy...was afraid to leave a comment cause I didn't want to make her think she needed to return it to a lowly blogger like me. I mean she was a busy professional, living my dream life...I didn't want to bother her. But Karla made it very clear that she didn't feel bothered. In fact, she was flattered & humbled by my "crush"...telling me that she wasn't a pro, she "just piddled around". And then I didn't just admire her work, I really liked her too.

Why am I telling y'all this? Because I wanted to share another wonderful perk of blogging. How else would I have met, & become friends, w/ a professional designer whose work in magazines, I had been inspired by for years? Only in blogland!

Here's a scan of the oldest (I think!) magazine lay-out I have w/ Karla's work. I don't have the cover to tell you how old it is but I know it's from Country Almanac & Karla thinks it is circa 2002. Told you I'm a long-time admirer! She cracks me up...her work has been featured in magazines for 1o years & yet she's "not a professional". How can you not like & admire down-to-earth goodness like that?

You can click on the pictures (& then click again) to enlarge them to read the article.

Karla hosted the Alice tag book swap I was in recently & I can't tell you how much I treasure my tag book! To see her wonderful art & mine, in the same book, just tickles me pink! And one day, I'm taking her up on the invitation to visit her & have some tea. Ain't blogging wonderful?