pulled this from the SSWC forum ....hope it helps :icon_thum
Creating Word Art using Word
by Dave Danchuk
WORD TUTORIAL for beginners
2 ways
For flat letters all in one line:
Choose your font and size and write your letters. Highlight all you've just written and right click on it. Choose the "Font" tab, then choose the "Character Spacing" tab. Under the Spacing category change "Normal" to "Condensed" then it says "By 1 pt", change that until your letters touch by either clicking on the down arrow , or typing in another number. (try between 5 and 6 for the Hobo font, more or less for others) Oh, make sure you're going the right way, and expanding the font. Take a look at it and see if it's the right spacing. Now to add a line at the top or bottom (if you've got spaces in between words, go to the "autoshapes" at the bottom and click on the "box" shape (or just print it off and grab a ruler and pencil) and make yourself a box to fit the letters on to. Right click on the box and under "Color and Lines", change the color to black and/or the "Style" to a good thickness. Click and hold one of the buttons of the box to move it to under (or over) the letters, so that everything in your phrase is connected.
For rounded phrases/names:
Click on the blue shadowy A at the bottom (or go to Insert-Picture-Word Art) I chose the one on the top left corner (you can bend it later.) Type in your name or phrase (hit enter after every new line you want (ie. first name <enter> last name). I like using capital letters, but there's a button for getting them all the same height. Bold is good but not necessary. Choose your font here as well, the NP Hobo Medium is what I've been playing with. Hit enter.
There's your text with back outline of white letters, and a popup window or new bar at the top with some options. Play around with them, but here's a quick cheat sheet.
Go to the "Edit Text" button. Under the "Color and lines" tab, change the fill color to black. Click okay. Looks familiar huh. Now to get the letters to touch each other, go to the button that says AV with arrows under it. Click "Very tight"
So now you can bend stretch, and twist the letters. there's white boxes around the corners of your phrase, pull them around. There's also a yellow diamond, move this and see what happens. Now go to the "abc" button and play with those, the circle with the line through it is excellent for 3 lines of text, but try them all out. Also under the button with the horizontal lines, try the stretch justify button.
You might want to have a separate "word Art" window for each line you want as you can more freely rotate and stretch them to fit together so that the pattern will be scrollable.
To add the arrows and circles (or other assorted shapes that will connect all your pieces together) use the "Autoshapes" button or one of the other buttons to the right of that (bottom of the screen) Now when you add one of those, some of your font goes behind your new shape. Right click on your new shape, under the "order" heading, choose "send behind text.
...and there ya have it. Play around with it, be creative and have fun! You'll never need to buy a Wedding present again, I've scrolled quite a few, with the Bride and Grooms name and their wedding date below, and the response has been GREAT. (and that way the guys can see the date and never forget an anniversary, also a very good thing)
