Canada150_2

Good morning and welcome to our Canada 150th birthday celebration! Each hour today we hope you'll join us as we go on a journey together and share some interesting things that make Canada the special and unique place it is. It's all about being together today friends. Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine is based just outside of Toronto, Canada and today is not only about celebrating our grand home but also sharing this home with our readers all around the world. If you're following us from Canada, please jump in and say "hello" and if you're joining us from around the world, please tell us where you're from! At SCT we love to celebrate which means today we have some fun Canadian themed giveaways, an exclusive printable and a little something extra we've created to honour this occasion. At the end of the day, we a fabulous giveaway you won't want to miss. We also want to take a moment to thank our dear friend Alyssa Light for helping us put together a wonderful day for our readers all over the world! So let's get this party started with our name…CANADA!

Internationally, Canada is a place of community and peace, and our name comes from the Huron-Iroquois word, “kanata” meaning “community”. We are a diverse nation that welcomes visitors, refugees, and immigrants from all over the globe. We are a nation that is proud of its reputation for being gentle, kind, and inclusive. Recently, as we welcomed more than 25 000 Syrian refugees, signs started popping up in Ontario that read “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbour”. As we seek to learn more about our international neighbours, we pause in honour of our heritage of community and to thank the Huron-Iroquois People for the beautiful word “kanata.” 

We commissioned a wonderful local Canadian designer, Nicki Traikos of Life I Design, (find her on Instagram too @lifeidesign!) to create an exclusive print that you can download and print at home!

Canada Day_lifeidesign

Download here

Thank you Nicki! The maple leaf on the Canada Flag symbolizes unity, tolerance, and peace and this image represents just that. 

Canada-150-toonie-loonie-2017Another fun thing Canada is known around the world for is our "loonie" and our "toonie." These coins represent our $1 and $2 currency. 

"The Canadian one dollar coin, commonly called the loonie, is a gold-coloured one-dollar coin introduced in 1987. It bears images of a common loon, a bird which is common and well known in Canada, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse." 

"The Canadian two-dollar coin, commonly called the toonie, is the most valuable of the frequently used Canadian coins. It was introduced on February 19, 1996, by Public Works minister Diane Marleau. The toonie is a bimetallic coin which on the reverse side bears an image of a polar bear by artist Brent Townsend."  (thanks Wikipedia!)

Interesting story, the "loonie" was not originally supposed to have a loon on it. After the dies were created for this special coin, the dies were lost in transit. Rather than take a chance of counterfeit coins being made the Royal Canadian Mint created a new die and on it, the loon! The original dies still have not yet been recovered. 

Today we would love to share a loonie and a toonie with lucky readers each hour (along with some other fun prizes along the way!) Be sure to leave a comment below by July 7th and we will randomly select one lucky winner this hour to win them! After leaving your comment here we hope you'll take a moment to visit us on Facebook and Instagram and leave a comment there as well for THREE chances to win! We'll be compiling all the comments each hour.

Next hour, learn what some of our favourite Canadian foods are! 

…………………………….

Fun fact: Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world's lakes combined. In fact, Ontario, Canada, has more than 250,000 lakes. They contain about 1/5 of the world's fresh water.