We had so much fun at our Spring Open House this past Saturday! Thank you to Kathy Scott and Reva Alexander for being our guest instructors this year. And of course, thank you to everyone who attended! I hope you all enjoy these photos from this years event! Oh, and you can now sign up for our Grand Holiday Open House! If you are interested in attending, please give us a call at 1-800-662-8925, spots are already filling up!

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! 

Fruitcake. If you are an American, you are probably rolling your eyes. If you are from nearly anywhere else, your mouth may be watering from memories of delicious holiday treat or dense and sweet wedding cake. Fruitcake is a very popular dessert throughout the world, but here in the old United States of America, the humble fruitcake has a laughable reputation. Johnny Carson joked that there was only one single fruitcake in the whole entire world, and people just keep passing that one cake around as a gift. In Manitou Springs, Colorado there is a yearly fruitcake toss (the record for distance, 1420 feet, was set in 2007 by a group of Boeing engineers). In American English slang, a fruitcake is a person who is strange or even crazy. Well, I think it's high time to restore good old fruitcake's reputation with help from Chef Nicholas and his family recipe!

Chef Nicholas' homemade family fruitcake! Photo: S. Ewing

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

Don't just follow our blog! Follow Chef Lodge on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Flickr, and Tumblr!

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

I just LOVE when we get new products in at ISAC! I think it's pretty obvious why, we get to check out brand new cake decorating toys, play with them, and I get to tell you all about them! I haven't shared new products in a while, and I am pretty excited to share these three new items with you today! 

7 Days of Sweet Valentine's Day Sales!

I know it's Monday and not Thursday, but I have big news and it just can't wait until Thursday! For a few years now, in the month of December, ISAC and Chef Nicholas welcome Santa Lodge and our 12 Days of Christmas Sale. Well, everyone has loved that sale so much that we decided to make things even sweeter! We are proud to announce that today is the first day of our first ever 7 Days of Valentine's Day Sale!  Meet Isac the Cupid, he is here to make you fall in love with cake decorating and sugar arts this Valentine's Day! 

Everyone here at ISAC loves our students, clients, and fans... and we love showing it. Of course, with all the deals coming up in our sale you should be able to make some tasty sweets for your sweetie on Valentine's Day!!

We are continuing our trend of rolling out more 2016 classes! This time I am excited to share two more upcoming Studio B classes! I am particularly excited about both of these classes, and I am more than excited to share them with all of you! ISAC will be welcoming Kathy Scott in March and Dot Klerck in May! 

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!

And the Winner is...

I know you are all just on pins and needles waiting to hear who won the FREE FOUR-HOUR PRIVATE CLASS WITH CHEF NICHOLAS!!! Without further ado, the winner (and friend to share the class with) is: 

Everyone here on the ISAC Team wishes you, your family and friends the very best of a Happy Holiday!

Gingerbread house created by Larry Hunn, ISAC General Manager
Set design and photography by Scott Ewing

Originally I had planned to announce the winner of the free four-hour private class with Chef Nicholas. However, because we got such a wonderfully overwhelming amount of responses, Chef Nicholas is still carefully reading through everyone's responses! Due to that, I will be announcing the winner next Thursday; please accept our apologies in having to move the announcement back one week! I know the anticipation will be killing you!

December is halfway done, our big sales of the year are all finished, so here at ISAC we are already getting ready to welcome 2016! Just like I said last week, Chef Nicholas will not be slowing down. In January alone he is teaching three classes at ISAC, three mini classes in Florida, and by the end of the month he will be in Chicago teaching at the French Pastry School! So, if you want to start the year with Chef Nicholas, let me tell you all about January's classes!

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...

Can we talk about why December 2015 will be awesome? For starters, you're reading this blog and it's Tuesday! December is going to be so great I couldn't wait until Thursday to post! What is so awesome you ask? Well first off starting today is Chef Nicholas and ISAC's 12 Deals of Christmas sale! Second, we are only two weeks away from announcing the winner of the 4-hour private class with Chef Nicholas! Want to find about more about our great sale and how you can be the winner of the 4-hour private class? Well, my friends, read on...

I am thankful to be part of the ISAC family, and I am thankful to write this blog to connect you- our students, customers, clients, and cake decorators.. This week, Scott has written a wonderful Thanksgiving blog to share with all of you. I hope you all enjoy his message as much as I did when I first read it!

23 Annual National Gingerbread House Competition

Earlier this week Chef Nicholas took up his judging duties at The Omni Grover Park Inn's 23 Annual National Gingerbread House Competition. As always all of the competitors delivered incredible gingerbread pieces, and judging was no easy task! This year's Grand Prize winner received a pretty spectacular prize pack valued at $7500 dollars: $5000 cash prize, 2-night Club Level stay at The Omni Grove Park Inn (including dinner, breakfast, and a spa visit), and a 2-day class with Chef Nicholas (including Renshaw products valued at $600). Man, I'd like to win that! Well... I bet you'd like me to show you some photos from the event, especially all the big winners! Oh, and after you enjoy all the gingerbread eye candy be sure to read about the two giveaways at the end of the blog!

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!

I am a huge fan of Halloween and Thanksgiving, so I normally get a bit touchy when I see holiday ads and hear holiday music before December 1st. That being said, I know there are many more people who LOVE starting the holiday season as early as possible and start listening to festive music on November 1st and get all their holiday shopping done before Thanksgiving even arrives! No joke, Molly (if you've been in our retail gallery or called us up... you know and love Molly) starts posting on facebook in the middle of summer saying, "X Weeks Until Christmas!" Seriously, ask her.

I'm not quite ready to jump on THAT bandwagon yet. However, this weekend, the ISAC team came up with a really fun and festive holiday contest. So this year I have agreed to start celebrating the holidays early this year. Chef Nicholas wants to giveaway a very personal prize to a fan (or a fan and a friend!). What kind of prize? Well... that depends on you! In 200 words or less, please answer the following question:

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!