If you have a lot of old black and white clipart and don't know what to do with it, you can easily turn the images into shapes in photoshop using these simple steps:

1. Open the image and go to Image>mode> and click on Grayscale and then "OK".

2. Click on a black area of the image with the Magic Wand so that all of the black areas are selected. If they aren't all selected, go to Select>Similar.

3. From the Paths pallet, click on the little button at the bottom that says: "Make work path from selection." You'll see an icon of the clipart image appear in the paths pallet.

4. At the bottom of the paths pallet, click on the icon that says: "Load path as selection." You'll see the marching ants appear around your image again.

5. In the tool pallet select the Custom Shapes Icon. In the Path Pallet, click on the clipart image icon to select it. Then go to Edit>Define Custom Shape. A popup box will come up which will allow you to name the shape. Name it and click OK.

6. And that's it. Your custom shape will now appear at the bottom of your custom shapes list. Open a new image to test it. You can apply layer styles, etc. to it.

Of course you can also create your own custom shapes using the same method. Just create your shape in black and white and follow the steps above.

Good luck. I hope you create a lot of great things.