More links for you. On the 5th one look to the right for more links.
Yes, many use clip art for digitizing. Below is the link for clipartopolis...and they have a free set of clip art once a week...there is also a Yahoo group PE Design/Next that you can join and it is just software questions and support. The site owner, Carol, also has a full instructional tutorial for PE Next or Palette 9 available to purchase and it is really very good. I recommend joining the Yahoo group for help with questions...it's a good community.