Gramma's house of cards: Interactive Pickleball game featuring Pickleball Patty from Art Impressions

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Interactive Pickleball game featuring Pickleball Patty from Art Impressions

Hello AI Fans!

I'm super excited to be able to introduce you to our brand new Challenge #410 - Sports and Leisure!! The recently released AI People are all perfect for this challenge!! And actually so are a LOT of other Art Impressions Stamp Sets. But I chose to use the beautiful #6074 Pickleball Patty along with her twin sister Peggy!! LOL! I created Peggy by stamping a reverse image of Patty. Before stamping, I removed the ink from the ball. After stamping, I just used one of my Copic multiliner pens to finish the lines of the paddle. I'll tell you a little tidbit about Patty and Peggy, they actually believe that Serena and Venus doesn't hold a candle to their own sportsmanship and talent! There's nothing better than a confident and kind woman!! 😁 I'll be very honest, this one took me a few (cough, cough) hours of my brain power and gluing talent. There were quite a few "rip it off and start this one again" moments. But I must admit that I love how it turned out. I knew the type of card I wanted to make, but wasn't quite sure how I was going to go about getting it. So that's a big reason for all the trial and error. The first thing I knew I wanted to do was make a center stairstep card. If you would like to know the dimensions of the cuts and folds, just ask. I'll be happy to supply them. 💛 Please just message me an email for a reply.

I'll start you out with a picture of the finished card, and then I will break down the process for you. There is a pull tab that will pull Peggy (the one on the far left in the yellow cap) across the front of the card so it looks like (with a little imagination that is) that she is running up to the net in defense. At least that was my goal. LOL!

In the image below, you can see the center stairstep card after I'd added some decorative paper and the net across the center opening. To make the net, I simply ordered some netting material from Amazon and then cut a strip about the width I was looking to make the net. I then cut two strips of paper 1/2" wide and 6" long and scored it down the center at 1/4". I simply folded over at the score and added a healthy amount of Art Glitter Glue, pressed the netting up into it keeping it fairly straight, and then put a heavy weight on it until it dried. I used a heavy weight cardstock for it as I wanted it to be nice and sturdy. Once that side is fully dried, do the exact same to the bottom of the net. The slide channel that is cut at the bottom of the card front is the part of the mechanism that will allow Peggy to run across the front of the card. It is hidden by the green grass panel that is popped up in order to give the mechanism the room to work.

Peggy is attached to the pull tab by using a strong piece of acetate.

Patty is getting ready to slam one over to Peggy! LOL!

Peggy is sensing what Patty is about to do, so she's ready to move over to the other side of the court to be ready! I added a tree and fence die cut to both sides of the stairstep card.

And there she goes!!

Now I did find that with all the weight that was added to this card, it did not want to stand up straight. So I came up with an easy fix for that. I decided about how far I wanted the card to spread out and measured the distance. I figured I wanted a two inch spread about half way down the card. So I cut two pieces of heavy weight cardstock four inches long. I scored it at 1", 2" and 3". So fold it as mountain, valley, and mountain. Burnish your folds, then glue them inside the card where you want them. These pieces will fold flat with the rest of the card, but it also keeps the card from splatting flat on the table.