Protecting Ideas

I am a newbie, and although I have read many posts from this website, I really have no background/experience in the area of intellectual property rights. But I¹m pretty sure this is an easy question...

I have come up with an idea for a t-shirt or a bumper sticker. The value of the idea is really in the words used to convey the idea, not the graphic design of the words and the way they are printed/colored/shaped or otherwise composed or presented. Is there any way to protect this idea?

Larry D. Jenks AIA, CSI, NCARB

JNX Group, LLC
165 South Hudson Street
Denver, Colorado 80246

303.322.6841
720.231.0634 (cell)
303.377.0634 (fax)
www.jnxgroup.com