What to do with outdated clipart???

When I started teaching over 10 years ago...there wasn't much selection as far as clipart goes.  The one very popular source for fonts and clipart was djinkers.com.  I remember being introduced to her adorable graphics and fonts from my master teacher.

Once I saw what you could create with her clipart I was hooked!  Those first few years of teaching I bought MANY of her CD's and started creating away.  I probably have over $500 worth of clipart from djinkers alone.  I know...I've got serious problems!

Fast forward 12 years later and not only do new teachers have djinkers...but they also have adorable clipart available from amazing artists like Whimsy Clips, Melonheadz, Creative Clips, Graphics from the Pond...the list goes on and on and on.

Now more than ever...it is easy to buy new clipart and make adorable resources for the classroom BUT....WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL THE OLD CLIPART WE'VE COLLECTED???

Like I said before...I have purchased a ton of djinkers clipart and several of my cd's are outdated.  I wanted to cry when I realized a few years ago that the newer computers wouldn't let me "view" my different graphics.

Here was my problem: My clipart was old.  They were created before jpeg and png.  As a result, new computers would not let me see the actual images of my clipart.  They would only let me see the name of the file.  You can imagine the pain of trying to choose the right graphic for my lessons if I had three different images all named apple and I didn't know which was green, yellow, or red???  I know it may sound silly but I really wanted those thumbnail images!!!

All I have to say is thank goodness for google!  I knew there had to be a way for me to salvage my clipart.  I couldn't let hundreds of dollars go to waste!  I didn't have the money to purchase the upgraded versions so I discovered a way for me to convert my clipart images into jpegs or pngs!!!

I learned I could use free software like XnView to convert all my images and still keep my original images.

If you are like me and have older clipart that you still want to use...I highly recommend using something like XnView (free program you download to your computer) or cloudconvert (free online app through google chrome).

In fact...I'm converting images as we speak!!!!