Betty Padden has been a professional wood carver for more than 35 years. She is the author of three books—Lettering & Sign Carving Workbook, Carving & Painting Christmas Ornaments, and Carving and Painting Noah’s Ark—and is a regular contributor to Woodcarving Illustrated magazine.

Located in Auburn, Massachusetts, she and her husband Bob collaborated to make hand-carved signs for businesses around the country. Betty has been perfecting her fine art wood-carving skills since 1970. She credits her uncle Carl’s mischievousness and love of nature as inspiration for her Santa Carl’s Tree Company woodcarvings, a community of elves that live in and around Christmas tree farms.