Cards Inspired by Depeche Mode

25 Jun 2010 25 Comments

by Stephanie in cards, Depeche Mode & Music Tags: card, cards, dave gahan, depeche mode

It’s no secret: Depeche Mode is my favorite band of all time.  I love their synthesizer, electronic and industrial sounds; Dave and Martin’s smooth vocals; Martin L. Gore’s brilliant lyrics – oh, and they’re not a bad-looking group of chaps, either!  It’s incredible how thirty years after they formed, they are still relevant and continue to create modern sounding music enjoyed by the masses.

Through the internet and Twitter, I have connected with some other passionate fans of Depeche Mode.  I don’t know if fans of other bands are the same as Depeche Mode’s fans, but let me tell you – some of the sweetest, kindest, coolest, thoughtful and truest friends of mine are fans I met through a common love for this band.  Depeche Mode brings people together in a really beautiful way and creates very special friendships.

As someone who enjoys making cards almost as much as I love music, it was only a question of time before I blended these two hobbies together.  Today’s blog post is to showcase the Depeche Mode inspired greeting cards I have made for friends in the last year.  I wasn’t sure when to write this post because I’ll probably make some more Depeche Mode cards next week, but I’ve decided today is the day to share what I’ve made so far.

Last year I made my friend Stacy a birthday card with a Depeche Mode twist.  This is one of the first pop-up cards I made and when she opened the card, the guys from the band sort of popped up.  Click any card for a close-up picture.

Stacy's Depeche Mode birthday card

The next Depeche Mode card I made was for my friend Marina.  She had been injured in a very nasty car crash and was forced to wear a neck brace as she healed.  I wanted her to feel like she belonged, so I made her a card and put little neck braces on Dave, Martin and Andy (and puffed them out with foamy adhesive).  I used this picture because they were in a car, like Marina was.  I wrote “we feel you” sort of like Anton Corbijn‘s writing which became the font used on the “Violator” album.  Then, I lightly distressed the edges by smudging black ink on them to give it a rough we’ve-been-through-an-accident look.

Marina's "We Feel You" Depeche Mode card

Inside Marina’s card is a pop-up of lead singer Dave Gahan.  I love cleverly working in Depeche Mode lyrics and song titles whenever possible, so Depeche fans will understand the way I worded what Dave is saying.  I have an autographed Depeche Mode poster and looked at Dave Gahan’s signature as I signed his name on the card.  If you’re reading this Marina – sorry to spoil it if you thought Dave signed it himself!  ;)

Inside Marina's Pop-Up Depeche Mode card

Recently I was in Las Vegas to take some classes for real estate agents who are pursuing their CRS designation.  A friend told me that if I went to the Hard Rock Hotel, I could check to see if they still made Depeche Mode poker chips!  Wow, what a cool piece of memorabilia to take away!  I don’t gamble and I’m not comfortable in casinos, so my friend Rebecca went with me and helped me find the right person to ask for chips.  They had them and they were only $5 so I bought some for a friend and myself.  When I shared a picture from my phone with my friends, some of them asked if I could pick up one or two for them.  I was happy to get some more for them, so Rebecca and I returned a few days later to get more – plus I found the unmarked black leather jacket that four of the DM band members signed, so it was well worth returning!  I made cards to accompany the chips I was mailing.

Here are the cards, inspired by the Depeche Mode single “It’s No Good” and the fleur-de-lis magnets I bought at the Paris hotel.  The cards were for Sean, Leon, Missy and Dale:

It's All Good - Depeche Mode cards

Here is one of the cards with the CD single.  I thought of turning the fleur-de-lis right side up since I was saying it was all good – kind of the opposite of the single, but I decided to leave it like the CD cover.

"It's All Good" & "It's No Good"

While in Vegas, I found the fleur-de-lis shaped as a blinged out sticker, so I had to use that in Caresa’s card!

Caresa's "It's All Good" with BLING card

When I was out-of-town, my friend Leah had a birthday and I had an idea for a belated birthday card I would make her when I returned.  She LOVES Hello Kitty and Depeche Mode, so I drew a Hello Kitty wearing a Depeche Mode t-shirt and holding a cut-out rose from the cover of the Violator album.

Leah's Hello Kitty - Depeche Mode birthday card

Here is a close up of my Miss Kitty drawing:

Hello Kitty in her Depeche Mode tee

I came across some really cool fleur-de-lis tiny puffy stickers!  I wanted to make Amanda a special birthday card, so I used them on it and punched out a fun shape to showcase a picture of Dave Gahan, cut out in the same shape.  The card didn’t seem finished, so I added some gold liquid embossing fluid that didn’t come out as straight and perfect as I wanted – but it’s home-made so I guess imperfections are to be expected!

Amanda's "Dave Gahan" birthday card

Finally, this is not a card but I thought I’d share a picture of the license plate and custom frame I had on my car for several years in the 1990′s – 2000′s.  If you’ve ever seen Dave Gahan solo or Depeche Mode play in Vancouver (B.C.), Seattle or Portland (OR), you may have seen this license plate.  I aways bring it to DM shows and I had it with me when I met the band in 2005.

My Depeche Mode "DEPMODE" license plate

Stacy and I met Depeche Mode in 2005!

Thanks for reading my post or at least looking at the cards – I appreciate all my readers!  If you have any comments, I’d love to hear from you.  :)  VIVA DEPECHE!!