New Feature: Upload Your Own Pictures

I’m very excited to announce a new feature: You can now upload your own clipart or photos to use in your picture checklists and bingo boards! Many customers have asked for this so I’m glad I finally got it done. This feature will allow you to add you own pictures if you can’t find what you need in the set of clipart, or if you want to super personalize the list for your child. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

Examples of Lists with uploaded photos

The After School Pickup checklist is a common scenario my customers asked about before I introduced the ‘upload your own photo’ feature. They wanted to be able to upload a picture of the babysitter for a visual reminder to their kids of who would be picking them up that day after school. Young kids especially might feel comforted by seeing this list on the fridge before they go to school each day, or even having a printed copy in their notebook so they can check it from school.

The Picture School Schedule is great for kids who are anxious, or who have special needs. A school schedule that includes their teacher’s picture can help them keep track of what’s coming next – information that may help them feel calmer. Having the teacher’s name written down may also help them, especially early in the year when they have so much to learn and remember. You can also write down the room number to help them find their way those first few days.

This kind of schedule also works really well as a hook & loop list that can be changed for different days of the week, or to account for assemblies, half days, teacher substitute days, etc. I made the portable, laminated, hook and loop schedules above using the ‘picture clips’ option on The Trip Clip website. I can now move around the classes based on what’s happening each day, and a child can slip this schedule into a folder to help them know what’s happening that day.

Uploading photos for a grocery list is a great way to give your kids even more independence at the grocery store because they won’t have to remember what brand of milk or butter you like, they’ll be able to see it right on their list.

I took most of these pictures with my phone camera at home – it was easy to upload them right to The Trip Clip from my phone and make my grocery list with them. The one snafu was that they were rotated sideways. I found a YouTube video that showed me how to rotate the picture on my iPhone to fix them (I had to rotate them twice to get this to work).

When I printed the list on paper, the images were all big enough that you should be able to make out what the brands is. One way to improve that, though, is to do what I did with the Lea & Perrins picture. Instead of taking the picture myself, I used Google to find an image online from the manufacturer, and I uploaded that to The Trip Clip instead. That picture is a little easier to make out because it’s a higher quality photo with no background.

Another way to make sure the photos you take are easy to decipher at the grocery store is to use the list on your phone! In addition to being super portable and interactive, you can zoom in on the picture to see it better and make absolutely sure you’re buying the right thing.

Finding Your Own Clipart

Another option is to find your own clipart images online. As a business, The Trip Clip can only include clipart images that I have secured or paid for the rights to use them commercially. As an individual, you can use a much broader set of clipart as long as you don’t intend to sell it or use it commercially. This means that you can find images online that are available for personal use and put them in your personal lists as long as you don’t sell them or sell your list.

How To Add Your Own Picture

To add your own picture, go to the list or bingo board you want to edit. If you’re on a computer, look for Step 2: SELECT in the top middle of the page. If you’re editing your list from a phone, go to the list, use the drop down menu in the upper right corner to select ‘Edit list’, and then tap the button to “Add Items”.

Above the clipart, select the checkbox labeled “Upload a picture”. You’ll be prompted to choose a picture from you computer, or if you’re on your phone, you can choose a picture from your photo library or take a new photo.

Once you’ve selected a picture, the picture will be uploaded to The Trip Clip website. Your pictures are completely private and are not visible to anyone else. You’ll be prompted to enter a label for your picture. This label will appear next to your picture when you add it to a list (it can be easily edited later), and it will also be the keywords that you can search on later to find it again. Any pictures you add will be available for you to add to any list you create with The Trip Clip.

Tips For Optimizing Pictures

Because The Trip Clip lists show a small picture, the best images will be

• simple (remove the background if possible)
• zoomed in on a single object
• square
• around 1000×1000 pixels
• have a file size less than 8MB

Using a mix of photos and clipart

Being able to take your own photos for a list makes the lists way more useful for many people. One of my customers wanted to be able to add a picture of their child’s occupational and speech therapists to the list so their child knew for sure who they would be visiting that day. Below I included a picture I took of my son’s daily homework folder, his actual water bottle, and a picture of his grandma so he’d know for sure who was picking him up from school that day.

In the video below, I show how you can take a photo of a specific item at the grocery store and add it to your list to help your kids find the exact item you need:

Kids With Special Needs

Some kids with special needs are extremely literal, so the ability to see their exact toothbrush (as opposed to one that is the wrong shape or the wrong color) may be just what they need. I had one customer who asked me if I could include a red table top to match their table at home so that their child would understand what they meant when they said ‘clean the table’. The generic picture of a table confused her child. Now this customer can take a picture of their family table and use it in their lists to better help their special needs child!

Being able to upload any picture you want makes The Trip Clip’s picture checklists super versatile. If you’ve tried this feature, let me know what list you made! I’d love to share it with others to give them inspiration for lists they can make to help their families.