There are gazillions of websites on the Internet that focus on every topic under the sun. What do 99.92 percent of them have in common? They use images and animations to help convey what they’re trying to say.

Think about it. When was the last time you picked up a newspaper or magazine that consisted of page after page of words without pictures? I’ll bet never. Both media use illustrations, photos, and graphics to break up the text and make it more appealing to read.

Same goes for the family newsletter that your Aunt Bertha sends out every Christmas. Right before the update on her bunion and right after she chronicles the latest accomplishment of Chester the cat, she probably inserted an image of one or the other. Hopefully the cat.

The images and animations you choose for your own project depends on the purpose of said project. A banker looking for a business card logo for a business card would probably stay away from dousing it with not-so-subtle “$” signs. Especially when trying to convey a professional feel.

However, if you’re a local car dealership and need a website designed to move cars off the lot fast, then go crazy with an animated dancing chickens or whatever your gimmick is this week.

The December issue of the company newsletter could get away with images of a candy cane here or a sprig of holly there, but probably not much more.

Remember, images and animations can add a lot to your project. But only if they’re used appropriately. And, in the case of animations, sparingly. After all, you’re using images and animations to draw the eye to your text, so people will read what you’ve written. Once they get to the actual copy, you don’t want them continually distracted by the rotating photo you’ve embedded in the upper left hand corner.

Clipart can be used to create beautiful stencils, which, in turn, can be used to decorate walls, design borders, t-shirt designs, scrapbooking accessories and much, much more. It all starts with an idea…

Turning Clip Art into Stencils

Decorative stencils have been used for thousands of years to create beautiful art. Today, they’re used extensively for room borders, scrapbooking, and wall art. You can buy the stencils you want from any craft store or at an online stencil store. However, depending on size and intricacy, you could end up spending anywhere from $5 to $150 or more for a single stencil.

With clip art and a little bit of ingenuity, however, you can create beautiful stencils for any purpose at a price even a tight budget can afford. Here’s how:

• Clip art (you can download for a FREE TRIAL at Graphics Factory)
• Stencil sheets (you can get a pack of ten sheets for less than $15.00 from a local craft store or find other options online) or use construction paper.
• Scissors ($1.00 – $5.00 anywhere)
• Utility or X-acto knife ($4.00 anywhere)

Taking the highest price, you can easily end up with ten high quality stencils for $20 – more if the designs are small. You can make your chosen stencils as small, large, intricate or colorful as needed for your particular purpose.

Many types of stencil sheets can be used in a printer, which makes it extremely easy to transfer the clip art to the sheet. Once the design is printed, you simply cut out the design (remember that you only cut out the parts you want to trace) with your knife and you’re ready to go! You can save the leftover stencil material for small designs, as well.

From decorative designs to whimsical backgrounds, clip art is the affordable answer to fantastic wall art – or scrapbooks, chairs, rugs, t-shirts, stationary, diaries, greeting cards, coffee mugs, newsletters, and much more…  What are some things you’ve used clip art for? Share your craft projects with us.

Clip art can help so many people in so many ways. Downloading clip art from www.graphicsfactory.com is the first step. It seems that we live by our planners, and PDA. For those of us that still use a calendar here is a way to spice things up.

There are always activities that we repeat on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Use clip art to choose a happy image even for the worst of chores. Cut out the image and use a pushpin to attach it to the day it should happen.

Here is a list to get you started:
Shopping
Gym
Doctor or Dentist appointment
Teacher Conference
House Cleaning
Guests coming
Children’s activities
Work related events
Church or bible study

 It is always fun to get a fresh start. Kids will be back in the classroom within the next week and the more involved they feel the more enthusiasm they will have. Since we are in winter and preparing for spring now is a great time to redecorate. Clip art is very handy and extremely accessible.

Have a variety of downloaded clip art from http://www.graphicsfactory.com/ available for this project. You can ask each child to bring in a shoebox or you can simply decorate the room. Give each child a space of their own to depict their favorite things about winter using your themed clip art.

The cherry on top of this project is to have snowflakes downloaded from www.graphicsfactory.com and have the children write their name and one sentence about winter.

 History is a big part of our lives and being an election year there are many ways to incorporate this in the classroom. Each state joined the Union until we had the United States of America, which included all 50. 

Since each state has, a shape here is a fun idea. Go to http://www.graphicsfactory.com/ and download an image of each state according to the month that they joined the Union. Place the silhouette on the bard and have each child try to guess which state it is and place the answers in a bag or bowl. The first correct answer wins a small prize. Older children can incorporate more facts or even election news as it happens. Below is the date each state joined the Union.

States by Order of Entry into Union

State Entered       Union Year settled
1. Delaware Dec. 7, 1787 1638
2. Pennsylvania Dec. 12, 1787 1682
3. New Jersey Dec. 18, 1787 1660
4. Georgia Jan. 2, 1788 1733
5. Connecticut Jan. 9, 1788 1634
6. Massachusetts Feb. 6, 1788 1620
7. Maryland Apr. 28, 1788 1634
8. South Carolina May 23, 1788 1670
9. New Hampshire June 21, 1788 1623
10. Virginia June 25, 1788 1607
11. New York July 26, 1788 1614
12. North Carolina Nov. 21, 1789 1660
13. Rhode Island May 29, 1790 1636
14. Vermont Mar. 4, 1791 1724
15. Kentucky June 1, 1792 1774
16. Tennessee June 1, 1796 1769
17. Ohio Mar. 1, 1803 1788
18. Louisiana Apr. 30, 1812 1699
19. Indiana Dec. 11, 1816 1733
20. Mississippi Dec. 10, 1817 1699
21. Illinois Dec. 3, 1818 1720
22. Alabama Dec. 14, 1819 1702
23. Maine Mar. 15, 1820 1624
24. Missouri Aug. 10, 1821 1735
25. Arkansas June 15, 1836 1686
26. Michigan Jan. 26, 1837 1668
27. Florida Mar. 3, 1845 1565
28. Texas Dec. 29, 1845 1682
29. Iowa Dec. 28, 1846 1788
30. Wisconsin May 29, 1848 1766
31. California Sept. 9, 1850 1769
32. Minnesota May 11, 1858 1805
33. Oregon Feb. 14, 1859 1811
34. Kansas Jan. 29, 1861 1727
35. West Virginia June 20, 1863 1727
36. Nevada Oct. 31, 1864 1849
37. Nebraska Mar. 1, 1867 1823
38. Colorado Aug. 1, 1876 1858
39. North Dakota Nov. 2, 1889 1812
40. South Dakota Nov. 2, 1889 1859
41. Montana Nov. 8, 1889 1809
42. Washington Nov. 11, 1889 1811
43. Idaho July 3, 1890 1842
44. Wyoming July 10, 1890 1834
45. Utah Jan. 4, 1896 1847
46. Oklahoma Nov. 16, 1907 1889
47. New Mexico Jan. 6, 1912 1610
48. Arizona Feb. 14, 1912 1776
49. Alaska Jan. 3, 1959 1784
50. Hawaii Aug. 21, 1959 1820

Entertaining is always fun and football seems to offer the whole range of emotions. Since many of your guests will have different team preferences and definite feelings about the teams that didn’t make it, here is a fun buffet idea.Undoubtedly, there will be plenty of food served, some will be immediately recognized and some may cause even an experienced buffeter to pause.

To avoid confusion and a barrage of questions while poking a bit of fun at the many teams not present, use clip art to describe each dish or activity.

If you prepare Mexican food, you might choose clip art from http://www.graphicsfactory.com/ that depicted different football positions. Choose black and white clip art and let the kids color in to match different NFL teams.

Your menu might look something like this:

• Touchdown taco meat
• No Penalty on the play pintos
• Flag on the play Flautas
• Field Goal Guacamole

The other option is to name the food after the teams:

• Redskin Refried Beans
• Saintly Salsa
• Panther Pork

This is a fun way to enjoy yourself at your party and have a little fun with the guests.

 Well the year has ended and a new one is here. It is hard to decide where to start. Immediately we have Martin Luther King Day. To use clip art in the classroom try the following:

Use an overhead projector to create an outline for of each child’s head, several different silhouettes are available at www.graphicsfactory.com. Using construction paper stapled to lined paper cut out the silhouette and depending upon the age of the children have them write about Dr. King’s dream or his life on the back. The older the child the more information the will be able to share. An excellent theme is what Dr. King wanted for children.

There are great essay opportunities for older children as well. If you are teaching middle or high school here are some quotes on which children can base their essays.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle, the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

There’s a host of clip art available on the web, which could be one of the reasons crafting has exploded over the past decade. Homemade items such as greeting cards, aprons, and websites are all the rage. Ten years ago, who would have thought we’d ever have entire stores dedicated to scrapbooking or building bears?

The at-home crafter is inundated with websites that purport to have the exact piece of clip art she needs to complete her project. Before you spend hours scouring these sites, however, it’s important to search specifically for what you want. Making a festive apron for the Fourth of July? Try keying in all those words and see what pops up, as opposed to just typing in “apron clip art.”

Perusing clip art sites is also helpful to crafters who need a little inspiration. You can search by keywords, actions, or browse clip art categories.

I went looking for some great designs to use for my embroidery addiction (er, hobby). These clip art designs work well for embroidery, painting, scrapbooking, screen-printing and more.

You’ll find a mix of paid and free designs online. Don’t be afraid to buy a batch of designs. The prices are usually very reasonable, and you’ll have a mound of really neat options to work with.

In summary, there’s a plenty of inspiration waiting for clip art crafters online. Just remember to make your search as focused as possible. Not only will you save time, you’ll likely stumble across interesting new sites that cater to your subject matter.

 With the leftovers tucked away and not many shopping days left it is time to get ready for the eight crazy nights that are almost upon us. Clip art can be very useful in the treasure hunt for Hanukkah gifts. Often there is a time each night after dinner when eager children search for gifts with their name plastered on the front.

For a fun twist on an old tradition, try using Hanukkah clip art taped to each gift instead of the traditional labels. For an added bit of fun, you can download clip art and paste it into a story that will direct the children to their gifts.

Eight nights is a long time to entertain children that are hip to the hiding places their parents have found but not revised over the years. If you have older children clip art Hanukkah projects are perfect to get the older ones involved and keep the younger ones amused.

10. Hallmark is overrated and not available 24 hours

9. Clip art makes you look more creative than you really are

8. You don’t have to be able to read to use clip art

7. Clip art won’t do dishes but it won’t argue with you either

6. You will always look like you colored inside the lines

5. Clip art projects will keep the kids busy for hours

4. Clip art is a great way to drop hints about the gifts that you want

3. If you don’t get the gifts that you want you can use clip art to give pictures of the gifts they want

2. Clip art never laughs at you because you are too cheap to buy a Hallmark

1. With Clip art you can promise your kid a pony and not be a liar