Floral Arrangements with Zebra Theme

The zebra print has been around for years. Designers use it for drapes, furniture, rugs, pictures, it’s just a very popular print. Every room in my house has something zebra in it. It started with a rug, then I liked it so much I started to collect anything with a zebra print on it, I have pictures of zebras, vases with zebras, chairs and pillows, I can go on and on. My only problem with the zebra print is (how do I incorporate the zebra print into my floral arrangements?) Unless I use a zebra vase it’s pretty hard to do it. I thought why not paint a large leaf with the zebra print on it.  I ran out to Michaels Arts and Crafts and bought two small bottles of paint, both costing me less than 2.00 on sale. The pictures appearing on this page will show you the many ways I used the painted zebra print on vases, leaves, terra cotta pots, and picture frames.

Materials used to make the  black and white zebra leaves used in these pictures were purchased at Michaels Arts and Crafts.  White feathers can be found at Michaels in the area of the dried flowers.

1 bottle of Folk Art acrylic paint, 427 Ivory, 1 bottle of Folk Art acrylic paint, 479 pure black.  4 Tropical leaf stems.  2 were large leafs like bird of paradise leaves, and the other 2 were like banana leaves.  First I started with painting the whole leaf white, let it dry for at least an hour.  Painting black lines that resembled zebra stripes were then added starting from the bottom to top of leaf.  The last step was painting a thin black line going down the middle.  The zebra leaves can be added to any floral arrangement and give it a new look, it's amazing what 2 small bottles of paint can do.  If you visit the Michaels web site they will send you coupons.   

You can add these leaves to clear glass vases with some bamboo.  They look great with the orange gerber daisies and a few black sticks.  The sticks  were painted with the same paint I used for the  leaves.  The tall black wicker vase was purchased at Michaels store.  Solid black picture frames can be transformed into zebra themed frames.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           frames.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        . 

Simple terra cotta pots can be turned into cute little showy floral arrangements for your kitchen counter or bathroom.  I used the same paint for the terra cotta pots as I did for the zebra leaves.  I purchased the pots at Michaels and filled them with white hydrangeas and spring white lilies using the spring bushes at Michaels store.

This is where I really went crazy with the zebra print, shown below was a clear glass cylinder 12 vase I purchased at Michaels, I painted black zebra strips on the inside of the vase and let it dry, then I covered the whole inside of the vase with white paint, and "WoW", my son thought I bought it like that.  The only problem is it is an acrylic water based paint so I wouldn't advise filling it with water, however the look is great for silk florals as shown.