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!

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.

As many of you may now, Chef Nicholas' base of operation, the International Sugar Art Collection, is based just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. It is mid-January, and here in Atlanta today the sun is shining and it is nearly 70 degrees. I don't think you can blame me for having spring on my mind! When I think of spring coming, my mind goes right to ISAC's Spring Open House!

This year our Open House will be held on March 18th, 2017. Chef Nicholas will of course be sharing his own tips and tricks for the season, but we are pleased to announce that Marilyn Bawol (of Unique Cakes) and Michele Sweeney (of Epicurean Delights) will be our guest instructors this year! 

There is less than two weeks to go until our 2016 Grand Holiday Open House!! Following the tradition that we began last year, ISAC will again be hosting two fantastic guest instructors- Wayne Steinkopf and Steven Stellingwerf. Chef Nicholas will also be debuting two brand new products in his demonstrations!

Last year at our Grand Holiday Open House, Chef Nicholas debuted these

gorgeous poinsettia's as part of his then upcoming Craftsy class!

Ok everyone- last week I told you all about the demo and classes being taught by Wayne from Swank Cake Designs at ISAC's Grand Holiday Open House and in Studio B, respectively. I also told you that we had to iron out a few last minute details, and the classes weren't yet live on our website. Well, I have got something to share: the classes are live, on our website, and ready and waiting for you to register! I just couldn't wait until Thursday to share the good news!

I have some FABULOUS news to share with all of you, and I am pretty excited! Wayne Steinkopf of Swank Cake Designs will be our guest instructor at this year's Grand Holiday Open House! Not only will Wayne have an incredible demo for the event, he will also be teaching two classes in Studio B!! You guys... all of Wayne's projects are amazing, and I really think seats are going to sell out faster than you can say, "ISAC!"

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!

And the winners are...

First things first... I am pleased to announce the winners of the 2nd Annual Snow Globe Competition! The First Place winner in the youth category is Annabelle Columbo. In the adult category the Second Place winner is Lourdes Diaz, and the First Place winner is Christopher Taylor! Congratulations to all the winners and competitors, thank you for taking part in our fun holiday contest!

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!

The entire ISAC family is very excited to announce the 2nd Annual ISAC Ultimate Edible SnowGlobe Competition! Last year was our inaugural event, and we were very pleased with all of the beautiful entries that we received. This year we have had many people ask if the competition would be held at our Grand Holiday Open House, and we are pleased to say YES! At our Open House event, November 7-8, 2015, all the SnowGlobes will be on display and guests will be able to vote for their favorites. The theme is Holiday Memories, so try and incorporate some favorite holiday event or tradtiions in your SnowGlobe.

Guess what? Our Grand Holiday Open House is only 6 weeks away!!! Have you signed up for your spot yet? This year we are going to have a brand new format and TWO, yes TWO guest instructors! Sidney Galpern and Joshua John Russell will both be gracing ISAC with their presence for your cake decorating pleasure! That's not all, both Sidney and Josh will be teaching classes after the Open House as well!!

Spring has Sprung!

The entire ISAC team sincerely hopes that everyone who attended our Spring Open House this past Saturday enjoyed themselves! We certainly loved hosting not only all of our dear shoppers, students, and clients, we also immensely enjoyed hosting Susan Carberry as our guest instructor this year!  Much like I did after our Grand Holiday Open House, I thought I would focus on sharing photos instead of writing about the day!

Hello dear friends! Can you believe that January is already over?! Chef Nicholas is busy imparting knowledge to students at the French Pastry School as we speak, lucky ducks! He did want me to share some fun upcoming events with you all though!

Twelve Deals of Christmas

Hello again friends! I do hope you are all enjoying our Twelve Deals of Christmas sale. If you aren't sure what I am talking about, each day for the first 12 days of December we are offering a special deal on some of our favorite products! So far we have had special deals on pump brushes, FondArt, metal flower cutters, and today

ISAC's Grand Holiday Open House

Thank you, thank you, thank you to EVERYONE who attended our Grand Holiday Open House this past weekend! It was, as always, so nice to see our old friends and even nicer to meet so many new ones! We hope that everyone had as much fun as we did!  I was going to write a loooooong blog describing the event, but I thought it might be fun to do a photo-blog. So, scroll down and enjoy! (Make sure you go all the way to the bottom, that's where I share the winners of the ballot drawaing and our First Annual Snow Globe Competition!).

It's Cookie Time!

Have you ever enjoyed a sweet, spicy, and crispy gingerbread cookie? Do you love rolling, cutting, and decorating scores of sugar cookies during the holidays? Have you ever wondered why cookies are such a big part of the winter holiday food tradition? Well my friends, in honor of the International Sugar Art Collection's Grand Holiday Open House this weekend, I thought I would research everyone's favorite holiday treat.

International Sugar Art Collection Field Trip!

Last Thursday, Scott, Gretchen, Molly, and I got to go on a fun little field trip! We took part in the Taste of Home Cooking School event in Atlanta. Taste of Home is a cooking and lifestyle magazine, and they host cooking school recipe demonstrations all over the country. It was a lot of fun and we met some wonderful new people!

We had a great booth in the vendor section. We raffled off a seat in Chef Nicholas' Gumpaste for the Holidays class, told everyone about our First Annual Edible Snow Globe contest, donated two gift baskets for the Taste of Home drawing, and we debuted a brand new product!

Cake Organization at its Sweetest!

If you have taken a class with Chef Nicholas, in person or on Craftsy, then you know how well organized he is while teaching and that he keeps a very well organized classroom. In classes, student workspaces neatly include all the tools needed for each particular class. This is a helpful and much needed necessity considering how many tools are used in the lessons!  When the Nicholas Lodge line of cake decorarting products were developed, more than just tools were designed- orginaztional supplies were created to work seamlessly with the tools in the NL line as well as the tools cake decorators already have in their tool boxes. While brainstorming for blog ideas, Chef Nicholas personally suggested sharing one of his favorite products- the NL Multi Purpose Holders!

I'm going to continue the winter theme just a bit longer with this blog. I can't help myself; I'm just too excited about all our upcoming winter events. Today I am going to talk a bit more about Autumn Carpenter's upcoming class with us, and then I'm going to share a few secrets from our upcoming Grand Holiday Open House! 

Nicholas Lodge's International Sugar Art Collection's

First Annual Edible Snow Globe Competition

Christmas will, of course, still be in December, but we here at ISAC are pretending it's coming early because we are excited to share our upcoming Snow Globe Competition with all of you! So excited in fact that we have already been making our own Snow Globes to share with you and to give you inspiration! First, let's talk a little bit about Edible Snow Globes!