12 Super Helpful (& Surprising) Things You Can Do With A Glue Gun

If your glue gun is stored away waiting for your next DIY project or craft, get that handy little tool out now and put it to work! From inexpensive ways to create nonstick surfaces everywhere to a handy hack to take hot glue with you wherever you go, here are 12 of our favorite glue gun hacks.

1. Are the pictures on your wall always crooked? A few lines or dots of hot glue around the corners of your pictures will create the perfect grip for your pictures to stay straight.

2. To stop those pesky stay strings of hot glue from covering the glue gun and your projects, add a little petroleum jelly to the tip of the glue gun.

3. If you're heading out to go camping or on a road trip, no need to take your glue gun with you. Just put a few drops of hot glue near the top of a match. When you need the hot glue, just light the match and the heat will warm and soften the hot glue so that you can use it in a fix.

4. Prevent your kid's bath toys from getting moldy and gross, plug up the hole at the bottom of the toy with a drop of hot glue.

5. A few lines of hot glue on socks, slippers, and plastic dress up shoes will keep your little ones from falling and slipping on any surface.

6. Use your glue gun to write out words, flowers, and designs on any surface then paint over the dried glue for a 3-D effect. This DIY is perfect for votives, vases, jars, frames, and even a personalized phone case.

7. If your shirts keep falling off hangers in your closet, a quick zig-zag of hot glue turns any hanger into a non-slip hanger.

8. When your Girl Scout or Boy Scout has earned a few badges, put away the thread and needle because hot glue is quick and holds the patches to the fabric of a sash or shirt.

9. If you're tired of fixing a rug that keeps slipping and sliding, add a few wavy lines of hot glue to the back of the rug for an instant non-slip tread.

10. To clean up your glue gun start by plugging it in to warm it up. Then use a ball of aluminum foil to run over the glue gun and remove built-up hot glue. Be sure to wear gloves to protect your fingers.

11. If you're looking to hang signs or posters without damaging your walls or outside on brick, attach a strip of painters tape to the wall and add hot glue to the tape and attach the sign or poster. It will stay up for as long as you need it to, and when you're done, just remove the painter's tape.

12. If you want to attach Christmas lights to concrete or stucco, a few drops of hot glue every few inches is the perfect fix. Just be sure you don't use this method on any painted surfaces.