Today I want to show you how to create a fun and trendy look on your cards and pages. A couple of months ago, we posted an inspiration piece challenge and I’ve had some people ask how I created my pie chart shape. Today, we’ll take a look at that process and see how it can be applied to projects. Trust me, it’s easier than it looks! I’m going to provide directions using both a Silhouette die cutting machine as well as a less tool-intensive version (think scissors-and-paper-trimmer only). If you have another type of die-cutting machine, the directions can be adapted for that as well.
Let’s start with the Silhouette version.
First, choose your shape and size it as desired in Silhouette Studio. Cut it out of scrap cardstock. You will use the positive cardstock shape as the background for your pie chart shape and the negative cardstock shape to help you decide how to arrange the pie chart pattern.
Second, determine the longest horizontal or vertical distance from the center of the design to the edge of the design. On mine, that’s 2.5 inches. That means that I am going to start with 3” squares to give enough space for the design to be cut. Cut 3” squares from patterned paper. Here, I used papers from a couple of different Daily Flash mini collections. You will want eight patterns, so if you want to use both sides of four double-sided patterned papers, cut four squares. If you don’t want to use both sides of all of your papers, you might want to cut more than four squares, as I did for my butterfly (the first photo shows one side of the squares, the second photo shows the other side):
Third, cut each square in half on the diagonal to create triangles:
Fourth, play around with where you want each pattern in your pie chart. Double-check your pattern placement by laying the negative shape cut from scrap cardstock over the patterned paper arrangement:
Fifth, once you have the design set, stick the triangles on your Silhouette mat, radiating out from the center (make sure they are stuck on there firmly!):
Sixth, center your shape in the center of the mat in Silhouette Studio, load the mat into the machine, and press the "cut" button:
Seventh, adhere the pie pieces to your positive cardstock shape. (The negative shape can be fun to use as well!)
Finally, use your pie chart shape on your project!
Now, let’s go to the scissors version.
First, start with a shape that you've freehand cut from cardstock (or used a stencil to trace and cut, or a pre-cut die cut - this guitar was left over from another project I did):
Follow steps two and three above.
Fourth, play around with where you want each pattern in your pie chart. Once you have the design set, adhere the triangles on top of your shape, radiating out from the center and hanging over the edge of the shape. Note that since I wanted this pie chart to radiate out not from the center but from the upper right-hand quadrant, I cut different sized triangles and rectangles to accomodate that:
Fifth, turn the shape over, and, using scissors, trim around the edges of the shape.
Sixth, use your shape on your project:
Regardless of which method you choose to create your shaped pie chart art, I hope you have fun creating and experimenting with pie chart shapes!
As always, we want to see what you create in our October Afternoon Flickr gallery!
