What is your real name if different than your design name? My real name is Karen Schulz
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family. I am married, with 2 grown children, 2 grandchildren, and 1 more on the way! We live in sunny Southern California
How long have you been designing CU products and how did you get started? I designed word art and custom fonts exclusively from July 2009 thru January 2010; and started designing kits and CU products in January 2010.
These are just a few of the wonderful things Karen has for sale at CUDigitals
Do you design PU products as well? I do design PU products as well as CU products. MY PU designs center around emotions that I want to express or invoke in others. My PU products are definitely theme-oriented.
What programs do you use to design your products? I design with CS6 Extended, Art Range, Illustrator, Filter Forge, and Eye Candy.
What is your favorite time of the day to design? My favorite time to design is in the early morning hours, beginning at 5:00 am, when the house is quiet and all is still, but I also love designing in the late evening hours, after 10:00 pm, for the same reasons. That makes it rough to get much sleep!
Can you give us a great tip for using one of your products to create digital scrapbooking kits? I love to create Photoshop Styles. They are typically seamless; but sometimes, based upon the pattern of the style, they are not. In cases like this, it’s super easy to scale the styles so that they work perfectly with the element you want to use them on.
Here is a mini tutorial that Karen prepared for us today: How to Scale Styles in Photoshop
Photoshop styles can look different when applied to images of different shapes, sizes, and/or resolutions. Sometimes scaling the size of the pattern is required for the best result. Here’s how to do that:
If you have applied a style to your image and wish to scale the pattern size, either double-click on the “fx” symbol at the right of the layer thumbnail, or click on the down-pointing area next to the “fx” sign (depending upon what software you are using). In the drop-down menu, you will see “Pattern Overlay.” Double click on that to bring up the Layer Style Menu.
In the Layer Style Menu click on the Pattern Overlay option on the left, and you will see the pattern that was used in the style in a Pattern preview image on the right. Underneath that preview, you will see a scaling slider. Just slide the triangle to the right or left, keeping your eye on your original image. It will change “in real time” as you adjust the slider. Experiment until you the pattern looks best in your image. As a rule, you will want to scale styles smaller when applying to lower resolution images and larger when working on higher resolution images.
What are a few of your favorite products that you’ve made? A few of my very favorite CU products are: Tags Collection (I love this because I’ve made the tags large, approximately 4” x 6” so they can easily be used for journaling, or resized for smaller accent tags; and I think I have some unusual shapes here too!); Patterns Collections; Silver Styles; Chipboard Styles; Crumpled Paper Set 1 and 2, especially when used with my Light Play Overlays
What is your best-selling product? My best selling product is my Calligraphy Edge Overlays Collection #1
Do you have plans for your next set of CU products? I am currently working on some new paper patterns, and they should be released within the week. They are very delicate, which I love!
What do you love to do when you are not working? When I am not working, I love to read, quilt, and take nature photos. On a larger scale, my husband and I love to travel. We just got back from spending 3 weeks in Germany, and it was a great experience
What is your favorite beverage? Diet Dr. Pepper, hands down.
If you could learn anything what would it be? How to have a clean house, just by wishing it so.
Special! Everything in Karen’s store is ON SALE through August 9.
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