Nursery Project: Wooden Art

I really enjoyed the book and movie "The Help".  I especially loved how the character Abilene Clark chanted the mantra "You is kind, you is smart, you is important" to the young Mae Mobley.  This is such a positive message to pass on to children to build their confidence.  There are so many negative forces children encounter outside the home, it's good to surround them with positive messages they can internalize in the home.  That is what I want to do for our son.

Ever since I read that book, I thought, "I am going to tell my own children that same thing".  However, I wanted to teach them the mantra, making a few grammatical corrections.  Instead of saying "You is", I say "You are".

I decided to create art using this message for our son's nursery.  I found a wooden plaque, wooden letters and used acrylic paint to create it.  

First, I laid the letters on the plaque to get an idea of how I wanted to place them.  Have you noticed yet that I am missing a "T"?

I painted the plaque black. Then, I set that aside to dry.

I painted the edges of the plaque all around and set it aside to dry for a few hours.

I laid out the wooden letters.  Notice, I am STILL missing that other "T".  Yes, it took me this long to notice it.  The wooden letters were painted with the white acrylic paint. 

I finally caught that a "T" was missing and painted it.  I let it all dry for a few hours.

Then, once dry, I used a glue gun to glue the letters to the plaque.