I still have mine. It's 33 years and some months old!
My dad helped me wood-burn Alpha Gamma Delta, the chapter, and the year on the front. I painted the Alpha ed, the Gamma yellow, and the Delta green. There's a decal of the armorial bearings and a decal of the university seal. My pledge/new member class was small and their signatures are all around the edge of the paddle. The initiated members' signatures are on the back. I covered it all with decoupage medium.
One word of warning: the standard paddle (if it's still the same size) is longer than 17" -- 11 x 17 is the size of copier paper boxes in which I store a lot of stuff.
