stamps: soda fountain favorites

Image from: usps.com

The U.S. Postal Service celebrates soda fountain favorites this summer with the new Soda Fountain Favorites stamps. 

Each of the stamps showcases one of five illustrations: a double scoop ice cream cone, an egg cream, a banana split, a root beer float, and a hot fudge sundae. 

By the late 1800s, Americans had long since begun drinking carbonated beverages for their pleasant taste, rather than their supposed health benefits. Soda jerks, the skilled operators of the nation's bustling soda fountains, offered a wide variety of syrups to flavor their product.

The Soda Fountain Favorites stamps will be issued as Forever® stamps.

You can read more about the Soda Fountain Favorites stamps here.

sent with love.

It took me a long while after having Bellamy, but I am finally all caught up on my letters!

I mailed my friend Erika some lemon stickers to use for her Essential Oils mail she sends out.

Some thank you cards sent out to various people for their generous gifts.

I had professional pictures taken of Bellamy, so I mailed some of those out to various people!

a simple thank you.

My mom always sends me clippings from magazines that she thinks I will like. The other day she sent me one titled "A Simple Thank You." from Woman's Day.

Send someone a thank you today. It will not only brighten their day, but it will brighten yours as well!

stamps: colorful celebrations

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You can celebrate any festive occasion with the new Colorful Celebrations stamps. This new booklet of stamps includes 10 vivid, digitally created designs featuring eye-popping patterns that showcase geometric shapes, flowers, and birds. 

Papel picado, an intricate art form that was developed in Mexico, served as the inspiration for the stamp art. The Spanish term translates to "pierced paper." Crafted with sharp tools and layers of tissue paper, papel piqued designs often include birds, flowers, and religious iconography. These elaborate decorations are hung during holidays, weddings, birthdays, and other festivities. 

The Colorful Celebrations stamps will be issued as Forever® stamps. 

You can read more about the Colorful Celebrations stamps here.

stamps: national parks

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The National Parks stamps celebrate more than 400 national parks in the United States-breathtaking vistas and landscapes of unparalleled beauty and also monuments, historic sites, memorials, battlefields, and more.

The sheet includes 16 different stamps, all of them showing views of national parks or plants, animals, artwork, objects, and structures found in or associated with a national park. 

The sheet of stamps coincides with the centennial of the National Park Service and encourages everyone to visit our national parks for opportunities of exploration, learning, and fun. 

The National Parks stamps will be issued as a Forever® stamps.

You can read more about the National Parks stamps here.

stamps: classics forever

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The U.S. Post Office issues this Classics Forever souvenir sheet in celebration of the long history of the U.S. postage stamps-and in appreciation of stamp collectors and philatelists everywhere. The elaborately designed sheet features handsome new versions of six stamps first issued in the mid-19th century. The stamps are printed using the intaglio printing method, as were the originals. 

The Classics Forever stamps will be issued as Forever® stamps. 

You can read more about the Classics Forever stamps here.

stamps: views of our planets

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During the modern era of space exploration, the planets of our solar system have been viewed with increasing clarity, thanks to the distant voyages of unmanned spacecraft and the development of ever-more powerful telescopes. 

The sheet of stamps features Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Each planet is shown twice on the sheet of stamps. 

The Views of Our Planets stamps will be issued as Forever® stamps. 

You can read more about the Views of Our Planets stamps here.

stamps: pluto-explored!

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The Pluto-Explored! souvenir sheet contains two stamp designs. One shows an artist's rendering of the New Horizons spacecraft. The other shows the spacecraft's stricking image of Pluto taken near closest approach.

The Pluto-Explored! stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp.

You can read more about the Pluto-Explored! stamp here.

stamps: honoring extraordinary heroism: the service cross medals

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The Honoring Extraordinary Heroism stamps will be issued as Forever® stamps.

You can read more about the Honoring Extraordinary Heroism stamps here.

stamps: repeal of the stamp act, 1766

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This stamp commemorates the 250th anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, British legislation that American colonists condemned as "taxation without representation."

Parliament passed the Stamp Act on March 22, 1765.

The Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766 stamp will be issued as a Forever® stamp. 

You can read more about the Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766 stamp here.

stamps: world stamp show 2016

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The U.S.P.S. continues a nearly century-long tradition of commemorating international philatelic exhibitions held every decade in the United States with specially designed issuances: stamps, souvenir sheets, and even covers. This year the U.S.P.S. celebrates World Stamp Show-NY 2016 with an issuance of an elegant folio presenting two panes of stamps reminiscent of classic engraved 19th-century newspaper periodical stamps and banknotes.

These stamps feature intricate patters of lines and ornamentation inspired by the U.S. Newspaper and Periodical stamps of 1865.

The World Stamp Show-NY 2016 stamps will be issued as Forever® stamps.

You can read more about the World Stamp Show-NY 2016 stamp here.

largest ball of stamps.

Image from: boystown.org

Are you making a trip to Nebraska anytime soon?

If so, stop by the Visitor Center in the Village of Boys Town in Omaha to see the Largest Ball of Stamps!

The ball of stamps has been recognized by Ripley's Believe it or Not as the largest stamp ball in the world. It contains 4,655,000 canceled stamps. 

stamps: shirley temple

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The U.S. Postal service honors Shirley Temple (1928-2014) with its 20th stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series. Shirley Temple was the world's most famous film star as a child and then went on to a distinguished career in public service and international affairs.

The stamp is a painting by artist Tim O'Brien; it is based on a 1935 image from Curly Top, one of the child star's iconic movie roles. 

Shirley Temple began dance lessons at just three years old and was soon starring in full-length movies.

The Shirley Temple stamp will be issued as a Forever® stamp.

You can read more about the Shirley Temple stamp here.

letter writing tunes.

This song has hit the spot for me today. It makes me want to curl up on the couch at home with a cup of coffee and a table full of letter writing supplies.

Do you have any songs that motivate you to write letters?

postage rates decrease.

The new stamp rates went into effect yesterday April 10, 2016!

First Class Letters: .47¢

Additional Ounce: .21¢

International First Class Letters: $1.15

Postcards: .34¢

This is only the third time in the history of the U.S. Postal Service that postage has decreased in price, so go take advantage of this savings and stock up on some stamps!

stamps: sarah vaughan

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The Postal Service honors one of America's great singers, Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990).

The artwork for this stamp is a portrait in oils of Vaughan in performance based on a photograph shot in 1955 by Hugh Bell.

Sarah nurtured her vocal talents in her family church in New Jersey. Her voice ranged over three octaves, and she exercised virtuosic control over it; swooping from high to low and back, she could stretch a single syllable into several. 

Listeners frequently note that she used her voice as an instrument, and Vaughan herself said that she copied her style from the "horn-tooters."

The Sarah Vaughan stamp will be issued as a Forever® stamp. 

You can read more about the Sarah Vaughan stamp here.

happy groundhogs day.

Image from: colossus-of-roads.blogspot.com

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY from Punxsutawney Phil!

And since he did not see his shadow, spring should be right around the corner!

stamps: botanical art

Image from: uses.com

The USPS continues its tradition of beautiful floral-themed stamps with the new Botanical Art stamps.

The stamp art features ten signs, each a detail of an illustration from an American nursery catalog printed between 1891 and 1912. the design details are courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden; the catalogs are part of the NYBG's Nursery and Seed Catalog Collection, one of the largest and most important collections in the U.S.

the artists responsible for the work seen on early nursery catalogs are mostly unknown to us now, but their captivating work lives on. 

The Botanical Art stamps will be issued as Forever® stamps.

You can read more about the Botanical Art stamps here.

stamps: quilled paper heart

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The newest stamp in the popular love series is the Quilled Paper Heart stamp. Quilling-also called paper filigree-involves rolling and shaping narrow strips of paper, laying them on their edges, and gluing them in place to form intricate designs.

The origin of the name "quilling" is obscure, but it might have come from the first tool used to create paper curls, the base of a feather or a quill. Quilling is believed to date from the 15th or 16th century. The first known quilters were monks and nuns in European religious houses.

Artist Yulia Brodskaya used heavy paper strips to create her design., choosing bright colors that would be appealing and eye-catching.

The Quilled Paper Hearts stamp will be issued as a Forever® stamp.

You can read more about the Quilled Paper Heart stamp here.