If you follow us on social media or subscribe to our blog or newsletter, you must have heard about the brand new Renshaw Academy! Renshaw Academy is a certification program consisting of three modules: Sugar Flowers, Sugar Paste (rolled fondant), and Royal Icing. Each of these courses is one part of the Renshaw Academy Master Certificate; once all three modules are completed, a Renshaw Academy Master Certificate is awarded! This is a brand new program, with brand new course material developed by Chef Nicholas Lodge. Chef Nicholas will be teaching all three modules in 2018 (including a second Sugar Flower module), as well as a Master Certification class. Oh, and good news if you are Canadian; Chef Nicholas will be teaching a Renshaw Academy Module in Ontario!

March Madness usually refers to the big college basketball tournament here in America. I am using it to discuss the class schedule at ISAC this March! We have three guest instructors in March teaching a total of five classes, Spring Open House, one Chef Nicholas class in Texas, and two Chef Nicholas classes at ISAC. AND, one of the classes at ISAC is part of the BRAND NEW Renshaw Academy series! Let me tell you about all of our March classes, and hopefully you will find a class that you'd like to register for. 

Big news everyone! The incredibly talented Ceri Griffiths is coming to ISAC this November, all the way from the UK! Chef Nicholas and Ceri have known each other for years, but this will be the very first time that Ceri will be teaching at ISAC in Studio B! Ceri Griffiths, author of the award winning book "Border Inspirations 1&2" and internationally recognized English over-piping expert, will be teaching his English Over-Piped Elegant Wedding Cake class. This is an intensive 2-day royal icing class.  Ceri will share with you several of his piped borders, his method of creating toothpick roses and many hints and tips to achieve beautiful work in royal icing.

This class is aimed at students who have previous piping skills due to the volume of piping involved and the pace of the class.

THIS IS NOT A BEGINNERS CLASS!!!

In less than two months ISAC will host our 2018 Spring Open House on March 10, 2018. This year we will have two guest instructors that we know will be crowd pleasers: Chef Joseph Cumm and Chef Sachiko Windbiel! As many of you know, Chef Joseph is a frequent guest instructor in our Studio B. Just this past December he taught several French Macaron classes; we started with one, and it sold out so quickly that we ended up adding additional classes! Earlier in 2017, Chef Joseph had taught a chocolate bonbon class and a chocolate showpiece class! All of his classes were very popular, so it was only fitting to invite Chef Joseph to be a part of our Spring Open House this year. 

Chef Sachiko is a Renshaw Brand Associate Partner, or as Chef Nicholas likes to say, "BAP." Chef Nicholas has worked with Chef Sachiko quite a bit in recent years due to their Renshaw Americas association. Sachiko is also the designer of the Chef Nicholas Lodge page picture! She has not taught at here in our school with us yet, but we are all huge fans of her work. Yesterday, we received her demo project and the plans for her classes after the Open House... wow! You are all going to be amazed! 

Now that the holidays are over, everyone is settling back into the groove of everyday life. Kids are going back to school, adults are going back to work,and life is back to normal. But... did you get everything you really wanted for Christmas? Or maybe you got some money as a gift that is just burning a hole in your pocket? Well, then you just come on by our retail gallery or our online shop! ISAC is having our 2018 New Year Sale! 

As 2017 comes to a close, the ISAC family wants to wish everyone a happy 2018! Chef Nicholas will be on the road again a lot this year. There will be opportunities to see Chef Nicholas on both coasts, down south in Texas, and in the Midwest! No matter where you live, Chef Nicholas will likely be coming to a city near you! On our website, you will be able to find many of Chef Nicholas' 2018 away classes, as well as some of his classes at our home location in Norcross (Atlanta), Georgia. 

Our Spring Open House is just three months away, and we are excited to be hosting Chef Joseph Cumm and Chef Sachiko Windbiel! Seats are already selling, and this is a one-day event! We know how much everyone loves our Open House events, so sign up now before it's too late. Give yourself a little New Year's present and sign up for a class or the Spring Open House with us in 2018. You can find a list of Chef Nicholas 2018 classes on our website here.

Have a very safe and fun New Year's Eve! Chef Nicholas, Scott, and the rest of the ISAC family look forward to seeing you in 2018!

 ISAC 25th Anniversary Fun Fact: In 2017, Chef Nicholas Lodge's International Sugar Art Collection celebrates it's 25th Anniversary of opening it's doors. Thank you to EVERYONE who has been with us these past 25 years, thank you to those who have joined us, and thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate this huge milestone with us this year!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award.

Chef Nicholas, Scott, Molly, Carol, Janet, Ann, and I all want to wish you the very best this Christmas! This is the time of year when it is important to reflect on the year we have had and remember all of good times we have shared. The ISAC family is grateful for all of our students, clients, as well as all of the amazing guest instructors who visited and taught in Studio B this year. 

Most of all, Chef Nicholas and Scott were thrilled to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the International Sugar Art Collection. In 1992, Chef Nicholas and Scott opened shop. I think I speak for all of my co-workers when I said that we were honored to be a part of ISAC during such a meaningful and emotional time. 

Your ISAC family wishes you a happy and healthy Christmas. We hope to celebrate with you for another 25 years! Merry Christmas everyone!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award.

If you have been following along with our big 12 days of Christmas sale you know our BIG NEWS!! Chef Nicholas Lodge and ISAC now have an Amazon storefront!! YAYYYYY! This means that all of our Renshaw Americas rolled fondant, ready to use royal icing, and gumpaste are available on Amazon! All your favorite NL Line cake decorating tools are also available for purchase on our Amazon storefront. There are also some fantastic DVDs by Chef Nicholas Lodge and Chef Lauren Kitchens. 

Having all these products on Amazon is very convenient and easy for all of our customers. But, I have even better news! If youy are an AmazonPrime member, you'll be pleased to hear that each of these products are available on Prime! That means FREE 2-Day shipping! This is fantastic news if you need to order 10 pounds of fondant!

A word about the Renshaw products in our storefront. If you are IN our Amazon store, you will see only one listing for Renshaw Americas rolled fondant. Do not fret! You will need to click that particular link to access all of the sizes and colors. Once you click the link, you will be able to see each of the four size options (2.2lb, 5lb, 10lb, and 22lb), and each of the 16 color choices (red, orange, yellow, green, bright green, aqua, blue, bright blue, navy blue, purple, bright purple, white, ivory, black, brown, and pink). 

I love AmazonPrime myself, so I have been so excited for this launch, and I hope you are too!

I mentioned earlier, our 12 days of Christmas sale. We have done this the past few years, and it's so much fun and so popular with our shoppers! Today's big sale is Patchwork Cutters: Buy one, get one half off! Be sure to check back every day of the sale, as there are new deals each day!! 

Chef Nicholas has been working hard to finalize the 2018 class schedule. We are working on Chef Nicholas classes at home and on the road, as well as lining up some exciting guest instructors. I will share the schedule as soon as we have every detail worked out. Stay tuned my friends!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS! Last week the Omni Grove Park Inn hosted its annual National Gingerbread Competition, marking 25 years of this amazing event. People of all ages, from all over the world, bake and decorate and make their way to Asheville, North Carolina every November to show off their delicious masterpieces. And these gingerbread "houses" are truly masterpieces. 

The special anniversary also meant that the FoodNetwork was on site filming this year's competition! Scott wasn't able to get quite as many photos this year due to all the filming. Bad news for Scott... BUT good news for all of you because the FoodNetwork will be airing the Omni Grove Park Inn National Gingerbread House Competition's 25th Anniversary Special sometime in December. The special will be an hour long, and as soon as we know the details with date and air-time I will share it with you here on the blog!

Let's take a look at some of Chef Nicholas' favorite entries from each of the categories, starting with the Child group.

Selections from the Youth Category:

The talented teen category:

Without further ado.... I give you the top three finishers from the 25th Annual Omni Grove Part Inn National Gingerbread House Competition

Third Place

Second Place

Grand Prize Winner!

I also wanted to spotlight the judging team! Once again, Chef Nicholas was Lead Judge, and his team this year was spectacular! They do not have an easy job. No, sir. There are so many entries in each category, and a set of very specific rules that must be followed. Occasionally some of the entries are even drilled into to ensure all rules have be respected. 

Thanksgiving is here once again. Hopefully during this holiday you will be gathering with family and friends and sitting down to share a meal at your home or the home of a friend or loved one. If you choose or prefer, a cafe or restaurant, there is nothing wrong with that. No shopping, prepping or dishes to wash!

All of us at ISAC would like to take this opportunity to say, “thank you,” to each of you. We are very grateful and appreciative to each of you; the students seeking to learn by attending a class, a demonstration or watching one of our Facebook Live sessions. The customers who walked into our gallery, stopped by our booth at a cake or trade show or clicked on and visited our web site. Thank you! Every day, not just this time of year at Thanksgiving, but every day. We understand you have a choice when seeking out your sugar art and cake decorating supplies, and we thank you for choosing Nicholas Lodge and ISAC. We constantly strive to offer you only the best products, backed up by our helpful, knowledgeable and friendly customer service.

Also your continued support helped us reach a major milestone. This past July, ISAC celebrated our 25th anniversary. Yes, 25 years of classes, teaching, demonstrations, magazine articles, instructional DVD’s and on-line classes. But none of this would have happened, or would have been needed, without the support of our fantastic students, customers, and shoppers. Again, we say “thank you!”

Everyone at ISAC hopes you have a safe, fun and enjoyable Thanksgiving. Let’s grab that turkey wishbone together and make a wish...a wish for an even better tomorrow for all of us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From, Nicholas, Scott, Molly, Ann, Stephanie, Janet & Carol

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award.

Well, it's a wrap folks! ISAC's 2017 Grand Holiday Open House weekend was fantastic! We had two fantastic guests, Tunde Dugantsi and Reva Alexander-Hawk. They, along with Chef Nicholas, offered three exciting and inspiring demonstrations. As has become tradition, this week will be a photo blog dedicated to the weekend's festivities! However, before I share photos from the event, I wanted to remind everyone that the NL Collection by Katy Sue Designs officially launched this week! You can purchase all of Chef Nicholas' new molds from our website, click here. If you were at our Grand Holiday Open House, you got to see these amazing molds in action before anyone else in the world!

Big, BIG news to share! If you missed the big announcement yesterday, Chef Nicholas has collaborated with Katy Sue Designs to create four autumn and winter themed molds! Here is a quote from yesterday's press release:

With our Grand Holiday Open House just a few weeks away, I know that you are all looking forward to seeing all of the fun tools that Chef Nicholas, Chef Reva, and Chef Tunde will be sharing in their demos. Usually our Open House events turn into a bit of a shopping frenzy. But, never fear! I am here to share an easy tool that will allow you to make a list of all the cake decorating, cookie decorating, or sweets making tools that your heart desires!

I am excited to tell you all about the WISHLIST feature on our website! You can send the list to someone who may need help giving you a gift, or you can search for a friend's wishlist to surprise them with a gift, or use it to save items you'd like to purchase later. The ISAC wishlist is very easy to use, and I am going to show you how! So... who's ready to make some wishes?! 

First of all, you need to go to our website; if you are reading this blog, chances are you are on our website right this very moment! Just in case, it is www.nicholaslodge.com. Click on the shop button, and then once the shop page opens, you will click on Wishlist at the top.

Boy oh boy. Chef Nicholas is always a busy guy. This year, this fall specifically, Chef Nicholas is taking busy to a whole new level. Beginning on September 21, Chef Nicholas has not had a single day off. And he still has so much to do before the end of the year! I thought maybe I would just give you all a glimpse into Chef Nicholas' schedule!

I love unicorns. I have always loved unicorns. I cannot express how excited I was when unicorns became cool and fashionable. When I found out that Chef Nicholas was developing a mold for unicorn horns and ears, I knew that whatever design he was planning was going to be amazing! I was not disappointed! Chef Nicholas designed a simple, yet completely adorable unicorn that can easily be used on any sweet treat you have in mind!

Here in Atlanta, the weather has been warm and beautiful. It can be difficult to remember that it's fall and no longer summer. At ISAC, there are many things to remind us that autumn is here. The most fun and exciting is our Grand Holiday Open House! As many of you know, each November we open our two classrooms and host wonderful demonstrations by Chef Nicholas and an uber talented special guest instructor. This year is no different! On Saturday, November 11, and Sunday, November 12, Chef Nicholas and Tunde Dugantsi will each be sharing their amazing skills with all of our guests. YAY!

Last Thursday, Chef Nicholas shared some exciting news in a live broadcast on Facebook. As Renshaw Americas Brand Ambassador, Chef Nicholas is privy to lots of exciting news before the rest of us get to hear about it. For a while, Chef Nicholas and Renshaw Americas had been working together to expand and improve their rainbow of available colors. When Chef Nicholas became Brand Ambassador, Renshaw Americas had just developed their line of rolled fondant and gumpaste exclusively for an American market; red, black, yellow, green, navy blue, purple, and pink were seven colors available in the Renshaw Ready to Roll Fondant collection. Well, things just got a lot more colorful! (oh, and who wants to win a prize?!)

This year not only marks the 25th anniversary of Nicholas Lodge's International Sugar Art Collection, it also marks the 25th anniversary of another tradition that the ISAC family holds near and dear: the Omni Grove Park Inn National Gingerbread House Competition! 

A few weeks ago, I shared that Chef Nicholas will be attending two different cake shows in October: Show Me Sweets Edible Art and Cake Competition (October 21) in St. Louis, MO, and Canada's Baking and Sweets Show Canada's Baking and Sweets Show (October 29) in Toronto, Canada. The sweets communities of the Midwest and our northern neighbors are pretty lucky. Well, I am here to tell you that the good people of Orlando, Florida are in for some Chef Nicholas awesome-ness as well! Chef Nicholas will be attending The Americas Cake Fair October 13-15, 2017!

I am so excited to tell everyone that the 2018 SoFlo Cake & Candy Expo tickets are now on pre-sale!! Why am I so excited? As many of you know, Chef Nicholas has been lead judge for the competitions for years, and Renshaw Americas has been a big sponsor of the event. So, the ISAC family is always excited for SoFlo!