About This Stamp
Cool off with Frozen Treats, a U.S. Postal Service® stamp issuance featuring frosty, colorful, icy pops on a stick. The tasty, sweet confections come in a variety of shapes and flavors.
This booklet of 20 scratch-and-sniff stamps showcases Magrikie Berg’s whimsical watercolor illustrations of ten different designs. The stamps are printed with a coating that evokes a sweet, summer scent. The words “FOREVER” and “USA” appear along the bottom of every stamp.
Today, Americans love cool, refreshing ice pops on a hot summer day. Modern frozen treats are available in many varieties. Ice pops are made by large manufacturers, home cooks, and artisanal shops. In recent years, frozen treats containing fresh fruit such as kiwi, watermelon, blueberries, oranges, and strawberries have become more common. In addition, flavors such as chocolate, root beer, and cola are also popular. Some frozen treats even have two sticks, making them perfect for sharing.
Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamps with Leslie Badani.
Frozen Treats was issued as a First-Class Mail® Forever® booklet of 20. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.
Stamp Designer
Leslie Badani
A native of Northern Virginia, Leslie Badani is the younger of two daughters whose parents emigrated from Bolivia in the 1970s. She spent much of her youth categorizing fonts and designing mock magazine covers. She graduated with honors from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC, in 2007, with a degree in graphic design.
Badani has since worked on many award-winning projects at Studio A in Alexandria, Virginia, and designed exhibitions, catalogs, and marketing materials for the National Gallery of Art, National Postal Museum, Textile Museum, Walters Art Museum, Smithsonian Books, and AIGA, among many others.
Working at Studio A with USPS Art Director Antonio Alcalá allowed Badani to participate in the design process of many U.S. commemorative stamps since 2011. Elvis Presley (2015) and Geometric Snowflakes (2015) were her first projects for the U.S. Postal Service®. She designed these and the 2016 USA (Nonprofit Org), 2017 Patriotic Nonprofit, and 2018 Frozen Treats stamps with Antonio Alcalá.
Stamp Artist
Magrikie Berg
Magrikie Berg is an internationally recognized artist who specializes in floral and botanical illustration. Using both traditional and digital media, her work reflects a love of nature and the belief that art has the power to inspire, uplift, and heal.
Berg grew up in South Africa, surrounded by scenic gardens and diverse, beautiful landscapes. From an early age, she loved painting flowers, and her creative side was nurtured by her mother, who enrolled her in pottery, calligraphy, and painting lessons. After graduating from high school, Berg left South Africa to study illustration at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Arts.
After years of working in advertising, Berg returned to her first love, painting and illustration. Past clients have included Marks & Spencer, MAC Cosmetics, Hallmark Cards, American Greetings, HarperCollins, Weldon Owen Publishing, and many others. Berg’s work has been recognized by The Hollywood Reporter’s Key Art Awards, and she was awarded Silver at the Global Pentawards.
Flowers and gardens have become Berg’s greatest metaphors for life. She takes inspiration from “The wilderness shall rejoice and blossom,” a passage from the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament that she considers both a declaration and a reminder that even in desolate or uncertain places, renewal is possible. For Berg, the passage speaks to the resilience of life and the promise that beauty and light will always return. She aims to have her floral works embody that vision, inviting gentle stillness, wonder, and peace.
When she's not working, Berg enjoys gardening, making pottery, and exploring forests, mountains, and coastlines.
In her first stamp project for the U.S. Postal Service, Berg created 10 designs for Frozen Treats (2018). Most recently she illustrated four floral designs for Colorful Blooms (2027).
