Well I was taking a look at one of my favourite rhinestone seller's eBay page recently, and I came across beautiful rhinestone strips of all sizes, and colours! It instantly got me thinking of ways you could use this fantastic product in skating, and voila! a new post was born!

Just so you know what I'm talking about, go ahead and take a look at the product page that got me inspired to write this little post: Crystals R Us rhinestone bands.

One type of rhinestone strip available from CrystalsRus. Image copyright CrystalsRus.

These babies were actually hiding under the heading "cake banding DIY", which I clicked out of curiosity because I also run a wedding blog, and as you know, am completely sparkle obsessed!

So, how can you use this product in your skating life anyway? I came up with three ways, and would love to hear how YOU use, or plan to use crystal banding!

Trim Your Bags
You could use this fantastic dazzling strip product to trim your skate bag, luggage, dress bags, vanity case, and pretty much any other key element in your competitive/testing skating kit! These rhinestone strips would make your gear instantly recognisable, glitzy beyond reason, and well, they would also make any other glitter-obsessed people really jealous *wink wink*!

Bling Out Your Water Bottle
For instant recognisability of your water bottle during your warm up or training session, glitz up your bottle! Chances are as a skater you already have a re-usable bottle, so why not make it your own with a bit of bling? You could go for a dainty strip, or a full blown 24-adjacent-strip band like this one to go all out:

Image copyright CrystalsRus.

Make Accessories
Using this type of already-assembled rhinestone strips makes accessory-making a cinch. A while back I wrote a post on making your own crystal cuff, which is a really simple process in itself, but which just got simpler if you apply this kind of product to your fabric instead of having to apply crystals one by one!

Using rhinestone banding for hair accessories can be a really cost-effective way to get a dazzling look out on the ice too! Wrap it around a bun and secure with grips and pins, or assemble with elastic to make headbands (this would look amazing for a 20s-inspired Gatsby program, which somehow I'm feeling is going to be a big theme for next season thanks to the hit film that just came out!).

Figure Skating Outfits Part 4: Considering Embellishment In Figure Skating Costumes