Work In Progress : Welcome Wordsearch

As our date gets nearer and nearer, its time to get all the projects I've had floating around in my head for a year into a physical (rather than imaginary) form.
So this weekend I started a chalkboard welcome word search for the entrance to the tent.


Obviously, its not quite done yet, the end needs to be trimmed since it was a little longer than I had planned on. I need to find (or make) a nice frame to go around the outside. And circle the words highlighted in red to start the fun!

Total Project Cost: under $30
Chalkboard Paint ~ $11
Primer ~ $6
Paint Roller ~ $6
MDF Board ~ $2 (found a good piece in the 'throwaway area' @ home depot! and cut down to 3'x4')
Xyron Permenant Adhesive ~$6
Posterboard for Letters ~ $1.50


First, I primed (2) and painted (3) the board. I put on a second coat of the chalkboard paint after 4 hours. I used a high-density foam paint roller to ensure a super smooth finish-


I blocked out a 2.75" grid with string (I was going to draw a grid on the board, but then I realized I would have to erase it after!), then started arranging letters I had cut out using a laser cutter. I think you could use a Xyron Personal Cutting System or Cricut to get the letters cut out as well. After I had them all laid out according to a word seach I had created in excel earlier (below), I ran them through the Xyron to get them to adhere to the board and we were good to go!


The letters in red spell words we felt described our big day - the remainder of the black letters I just filled in randomly.
We chose:
David
Chelsey
Welcome (these three will be already circled when people arrive, I haven't circled them yet since the paint instructions suggest waiting 3 days before you use chalk on the board)
Party
Promise
Wedding
Ring
Husband
Wife
Greenville (the town we are getting married in)
Friends
Family
Union
Celebrate
August
Cherish
Gift
Marriage
Pledge
and maybe a few others!

I plan on listing these words next to the chalkboard since I realized I had accidentally made some other words with the random letters that I don't want people circling (like snob) - o'well!

I can't wait to hang this in our home to remind us of the day we got married!