Summer is here! One of my favorite things about summer is seeing big, beautiful blooming flowers every where I look. Even when I am at work, I see Chef Nicholas' beautiful gumpaste flowers! While you may not be nearby to take a class with Chef Nicholas in person at our school, you can always create your own stunning summer flowers by taking one of Chef Nicholas Craftsy classes! 

This weekend Chef Nicholas is teaching his Gumpaste Flowers for Fall class at ISAC. Wild Poppy, Fall Cosmos, Dahlia, Ginkgo Leaf, Chili Peppers, and several types of grasses will all feature at this class. These flowers, and especially their bold, warm colors, make me happy. I love the fall. But, what if you love fall and you aren't going to be taking the class with Chef Nicholas Lodge this weekend? Don't be sad, I got you covered.

March is a busy month for us at ISAC! After wrapping up judging at That Takes the Cake and teaching Summertime Gumpaste Flowers at Over the Top Cake Supplies in Texas, Chef Nicholas is back in Atlanta, and we are all working very hard to get ready for this weekend's Spring Open House event! We are excited to be hosting TWO guest instructors- Kathy Scott and Reva Alexander! Hooray! But that's not all we have on tap this month!

Did you know that March is National Craft Month? Neither did I. What does National Craft Month have to do with cake you ask? Well, this year, quite a bit. Because I am lucky enough to work for Chef Nicholas, I am also lucky to work with Craftsy and deliver you not only Chef Nicholas' wonderful cake decorating classes, but also classes in food and cooking, sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, photography, jewelry making, painting.... the list goes on and on. Each of these fields help you to hone different crafts in your life, and each instructor is an artist. 

Craftsy is celebrating National Craft Month in the most generous of ways. Giving back. Sure, Craftsy could run some glitzy sale and entice you with deals, but sometimes helping others is more important. For the next two weeks (now through March 13, 2016), every time a student purchases a Craftsy class, they will be entered to win $1000 for the craft-focused charity of choice! Think of how much $1000 could help a charity and change a life! 

Hooray! Sweet Seasons: Spring Cherry Blossoms is finally being released! You may remember that this class was supposed back in early January. Unfortunately, the class launch was pushed back several weeks to finalize some details Guess what? All those details have finally been, well, finalized! That means on Monday, February 22, I will be sharing the link for this fabulous new Craftsy class and you will all be able to snag it for 50% off! Be sure to visit our website and our Facebook page on Monday to snag Sweet Seasons: Spring Cherry Blossoms! 

In other Craftsy news, I need your help. Do you have a favorite craft-based charity? Your chance to help in a big way is coming up. In a few weeks, Craftsy will be donating $1000 to one lucky student's favorite craft-based charity. I don't have all the details yet, but I have started work on a blog focusing on this generous campaign. I could use some help from all of you Craftsy students out there. 

I didn't know anything about Craftsy until Chef Nicholas became an instructor. Even after he filmed his first class, it took me a LONG time to sign up for my first Craftsy class. I knew how Craftsy worked, I just didn't know if I would actually watch the classes or learn anything. Plus, I work for Chef Nicholas, I get to see him teach pretty often (as you may well imagine), why did I need a Craftsy class? Well, once I began blogging, I decided I needed to stop being a slacker and really explore the Craftsy platform for myself. I started out by watching Chef Nicholas' classes, then other cake decorating classes. Then I realized there were cooking classes, sewing, quilting, embroidery, crocheting, knitting, weaving, spinning, drawing, painting, photography, gardening, woodworking, jewelry making, and paper crafting! I realized that not only could I learn from cake decorators from all over the world that I admire, but I could also try my hand at making some Chinese food for dinner (which I did, and it was delicious!), crocheting scarves, and finally learned how to properly use my big fancy camera! I even got my husband hooked- thanks to a pretty fantastic BBQ class, my husband makes some finger-licking spare ribs! Today I am completely in love with Craftsy, and I have a ridiculous amount of classes in each of the different subject categories, and I have learned so many new tips, skills, techniques, and whole new crafts!

So, that is my story. That is how I fell in love with Craftsy, and I get excited every Monday to see what new classes are launching. Here is where I need y your help. Tell me about your Craftsy experience. How did you find Craftsy? What made you decide to take your first class? What keeps bringing you back to take more Craftsy classes? I would love for you to all share your stories with me, and I would love to feature some of your responses on an upcoming blog. You can either share your stories as a comment below, or you can email me at stephanie@nicholaslodge.com. I'm looking forward to hearing each of your experiences and I am excited to share them on our blog! 

When I get more details about how you can enter to win $1000 for your craft-based charity, I will be sure to share them with all of you! 

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie

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

Over the last year, you have all be excited about Chef Nicholas' Craftsy classes and equally excited about the prospect of new Craftsy classes taught by Chef Nicholas. Luckily for all of you, 2016 is your Craftsy year! Chef Nicholas has been filming loads of classes for each of you to enjoy, buth mini-classes and full length classes! 

Several weeks ago, I shared our class schedule for January. This week I am revisiting our January class schedule because we have added some fun new classes! Oh, and I'll be sharing a link that you can click to enter to win Chef Nicholas' NEW Craftsy class that launches next week! I'll dispense with the small talk and dive right into it!

The man is a machine. Chef Nicholas does not mess around when it comes to his profession. He is currently in Chicago teaching at the French Pastry School, but what he was doing last week is what I think will interest you most. RIGHT after the Thanksgiving holiday the Craftsy team flew into Atlanta. They had a lot to get done...

On Monday, a new Craftsy class dropped called Show Stopping Sugar Flowers. This class is much different from any class Craftsy has released before. Why? Because it includes lessons from more than just one instructor! And guess who is (of course) one of the instructors of Show Stopping Sugar Flowers... yup! Chef Nicholas!

This past weekend I whipped up a huge batch of cupcakes topped with fresh strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream. I have no events planned, no birthday party or bake sale. I just wanted a sweet and tasty treat. I really do just love me some cupcakes. As I was popping one of those teeny cakes into my mouth, I thought hey... I should write a cupcake blog! 

Thank you to ALL of our Craftsy students!

Before Chef Nicholas became a Craftsy instructor, the only way to take a class with him was to travel to our location in Georgia for a class, at a cake decorating convention (like ICES or Cake Camp, or get lucky enough to live where he was a guest instructor. When Chef Nicholas started his relationship with Craftsy, he was able to connect with students around the globe, students who may not have been able to afford an in-house class, or those who were nervous about taking their very first class in person. Craftsy has allowed Chef Nicholas to teach, inspire, and encourage students from every walk of life. The entire ISAC family is grateful for this.

As promised here are the winners of the Birthday Blog prizes! Thank you to everyone who commented on last week's blog! I do hope that all the winners listed below enjoy their prizes, whatever they may be!

Today is an exciting day! Why, you ask? Today we celebrate the one year anniversary of the Nicholas Lodge Blog! Hooray!!! Writing this blog each week for all of you has been a lot of fun, and I have learned so much more about cake decorating and baking in the process! I have enjoyed researching each topic, consulting with Chef Nicholas on what you all would like to read about each week, and reading all the positive comments and emails we receive from our pleased readers (that's you!). So, how should we celebrate this momentous occasion? What's a birthday party without presents- let's giveaway some prizes!

Tremendously Talented Friends!

Since this is, in fact, Chef Nicholas Lodge's blog, I spend a lot of time talking about Chef Nicholas. Today I thought we would take a short break from that, and talk about some of Chef Nicholas's friends: Marina Sousa, Lauren Kitchens, and Alan Dunn! Each of these cake-decorating extraordinaires are near and dear to the entire ISAC team, and I have some interesting tidbits to share about each of them!

In American Cake Decorating (ACD) magazine this coming year, Chef Nicholas will explore the flavors of Asia, Africa, Europe, India and the Middle East, the Americas, and everywhere in between! The proper use of these flavors, and how to integrate them into cakes and pastries, will be covered. You can look forward to recipes, hints, and tips and tricks, and resources! Since space in the magazine is limited, an edited version of what Chef Nicholas wrote is printed. I thought I would share his editorials here on the blog in their entirety! I'll be sharing them periodically over the next few months, and I hope you enjoy them! While the theme is FLAVORS of the World, we will start with degustation, or the tasting of food, before we delve into the different flavor profiles that are both universally popular and that are Chef Nicholas' favorites!

Chef Nicholas' Craftsy Class is ALMOST HERE!

There are only FOUR more days until Chef Nicholas' newest Craftsy class launches! Hooray! I know everyone reading this is doing a serious happy dance right now! How do I know? Because I see and read all the facebook comments, blog comments, and emails begging for Chef Nicholas to release new Craftsy classes. Hey, they don't call me the social media goddess for nothing. I thought since we have less than a week on the countdown, I would share a bunch of the project photos and tell you a bit about the class.

Chef Nicholas' Craftsy Sneak Peek!

I'm going to make you wait just a bit longer for my Craftsy news. Why? Well, because last week I told you that our In-side Sale would be starting on Saturday, January 17 and go through Sunday, January 25. THAT HAS CHANGED! It will now begin Monday, January 19 and go through Saturday, January 24. I just wanted everyone to mark their calenders correctly!  

Now... who wants to know what we have been up to this week at ISAC? What if I told you Chef Nicholas was filming not one but TWO new Craftsy classes!