Top 8 Graduation Post Office Stamps

Made of Hearts is a continuation of the United States Postal Service tradition of creating stamps that celebrate love. The stamp art features horizontal lines of red and pink hearts on a white background. Toward the center, red hearts in varying sizes replace pink hearts in a formation that creates one large red heart, the focal point of this graphic design. This stamp is just right for thank you notes, get well cards, or any occasion when love is the perfect message.

With this stamp, the Postal Service marks the 200th anniversary of the Flag Act of 1818, which gave us the basic design of the current American flag: 13 stripes symbolizing the original 13 colonies and one star for each state in the union. This stamp will be issued June 9 in Appleton, Wisconsin, which holds a large Flag Day Parade each year.This year’s parade will be held June 9th, the same day the stamp will be issued.

The new Peace Rose stamp celebrates one of the most popular roses of all time. The stamp art features a detail from a photograph of the Peace Rose blossom and its creamy yellow petals, with a touch of pink on the edges. The rose revolutionized hybrid tea roses with its unique coloring, hardiness, and disease resistance. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with an existing photograph taken by Richard C. Baer.

The U.S. Postal Service released first-of-a-kind stamps with the look and feel of actual balls used in eight popular sports. The Have a Ball Forever stamps depict balls used in baseball, basketball, football, golf, kickball, soccer, tennis and volleyball. A special coating applied to selected areas of the stamps during the printing process gives them a texture that mimics the feel of a: baseball’s stitching; golf ball’s dimples; tennis ball’s seams; soccer ball or volleyball’s textured panels; and, the different raised patterns of a football, basketball and kickball. The Forever stamps were issued in panes of 16 that include two stamps of each design. While most traditional stamps are square or rectangular in design, these stamps will be round. Stamp artist Daniel Nyari of Long Island City, NY, and stamp designer Mike Ryan of Charlottesville, VA, worked with Art Director Greg Breeding of Charlottesville, VA to create the stamp images. The Have a Ball! stamps are being issued as Forever stamps, which are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.

This First Class Forever Boutonniere stamp and the Corsage two ounce stamp can be used individually or as companions for celebration announcements. As with the USPS Wedding stamps, the Boutonniere stamp can be affixed to response mailers that would be enclosed in invitations within envelopes using the Corsage stamp. They can also be used individually, the Boutonniere stamp on greeting cards and the Corsage stamp on mailings such as overweight cards or bearing small enclosures.

This sheet of 20 US postage stamps honor Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa, who is best known for her intricate looped-wire sculptures. The 20 stamps feature two each of the ten designs, each featuring the artist’s signature wire sculptures, as well as a photograph of Asawa taken by Nat Farbman for Life magazine in 1954.

Born in rural California in 1926, Asawa is best known for her abstract sculptures, which challenge conventional notions of material and form. She first created the light transparent works in 1940s as a student at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Asawa creatively uses the wire forms that interlock, expand, and contract, utilizing the economy and flexibility of a wire enclosing three-dimensional space. in addition to single-layered sculptures, she creates continuous or intersecting surfaces. Sensual and organic, these multilayered yet still transparent works created a dynamic interplay between interior and exterior surfaces.

Inspired by natural elements such as plants, snail shells, spiderwebs, insect wings and water droplets, Ruth Asawa transformed industrial material into transparent and seemingly weightless works of art that challenged traditional definitions of sculpture. When shown together, her sculptures can evoke an undersea domain, a magical upside-down world or an environment all their own. A tireless advocate of community-based arts education, she is also acclaimed for her drawings, paintings, prints and large public projects.

The selvage features a photograph of Asawa taken by Nat Farbman in 1954 for Life magazine.

The Ruth Asawa stamps are good for 1 oz domestic mail forever.

The Winter Berries booklet of 20 stamps celebrates four of winter’s small, yet vibrant offerings: The winterberry (Ilex verticillata), The juniper berry (Juniperus communis), The beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), and The soapberry (Sapindus saponaria). The stamp art features highly detailed botanical portraits of each plant that highlight the bold colors and rich textures of their berries. Artist Steve Buchanan worked with art director Antonio Alcalá to create these four new stamps.

Displayed on a door, in a window or over a mantel, wreaths are symbols of joy and celebration, inviting the spirit of the season into the home. Inspired by the holiday decorating traditions of early America, the four wreaths featured on these stamps are classic yet contemporary. Their designs create feelings of warmth and welcome. Wreaths are often made from materials easily found during the winter months, including pinecones, dried flowers and berries.