This is simple. I'm Tish Hawkson Rider.

Well, friends, with Christmas coming up in less than a week now, which is wild to believe.

It's the time of year when we slow things

down around here and start wrapping up the year so we can take a little bit of time off.

So with that in mind I've got a conversation for you today I had earlier this year

that you might have missed. Her name is Joe E. for you

today, might have missed. Her name is Joe Ellis, and she started something really cool in her small town.

More on her in just a sec, but first.

Starting in 2019, we're gonna dust off the Instagram

account we've had for the blog and podcast for a long time now and we're gonna

actually start using it. So if you're on Instagram pop over there and follow at Art As Simple and

starting in January we'll post about new essays we publish, new podcast

episodes, our favorite reader comments, ask questions that we may use in future posts or

episodes and more. It's an easy free way to support the work we do here and

it's a way you can be a small part of it. So again, go follow us on Instagram at Art of Simple.

And you can also find the link to do so in this episode,

Show Notes. Okay, back to Joe. She started a nonprofit crafting school in our town called

Make Do, where she and others in the community use their different crafting skills like sewing, quilting,

felting, and painting to make an impact in her small town.

Joe first saw overseas how teaching something like sewing could change the attitude, perspective, and even future of a young woman.

So when she returned home, she wanted to impart that same idea in her own community.

She told me she's learning a lot about what it's like to blend the running of a

...