I don't know why I didn't look through this thread any sooner. Some very, very cool paddles/nonpaddles!
When I was in college, paddles were a big thing for every organization (even the professional ones like mine).
We actually made our own paddles during our probationary period. My chapter had a 'paddle party' where the chapter provided all of the materials. Our probationary educator & most of the bigs were there to oversee and offer suggestions. But we just made them in a couple of hours.
I can only think of one sorority on my campus where they didn't get paddles until they had a little, actually. All of the other oragnizations I
think I recall members having them by the time they were initiated. Which is different than what everyone else seems to have posted regarding their paddles/nonpaddles.
ANYWAYS, I just snapped a quick photo of mine:
Originally it was just bare wood with the greek letters and a few symbols painted on. After the fact I decided I wanted to make it look way more awesome. I actually used paint markers for all of the coloring. In the photo you can really see some of the puffy paint underneath, although in real life it's much more subtle (and kind of a cool unintentional effect).