here is a very cool link that helps you put signs made by someone else onto custom design signs
http://www.thulinma.com/acnl/
i found this guide on tumblr:
Ok, so you know HOW YOU CAN?T PLACE A PLAIN PATTERN (NOT A PRO DESIGN) THAT YOU?VE SCANNED FROM A QR CODE ONTO A CUSTOM SIGNBOARD IN ACNL?
That is because, the game doesn?t recognise it as a pattern that YOU have made since the pattern is credited as someone else?s. It?s silly and disheartening that the signs you place in your town HAS to be designed by you, especially for people like me who can?t draw for nuts!
Well, have no fear! Help is here! Thanks to the ACNL PATTERN TOOL BY THULINMA, you can place ANY pattern made by ANYONE on ANY public works project! Even your own! This also works for trying to figure out how those fabulous Japanese artists drew a dress a certain way, as well as scanning in realistic photos to make new patterns for those who fail at art.
STEP 1: FIGURE OUT YOUR CREATOR ID
Notice on the Pattern Tool webpage there?s a box that says ?Creator?
This is the code of the person who originated the pattern. Every player character in ACNL has 2 unique IDs associated with them, and they get attached to a pattern when they generate the QR code.
So go to Sable (make sure you have already unlocked the sewing machine for reading QR codes), ask her to generate a QR code for one of the designs YOU HAVE PERSONALLY CREATED. For me, I chose to randomly doodle some crap just to get my ID.
This is what Thulinma calls an ?.acnl file?.
Under ?Load ACNL file or QR-image?, click ?Choose File? and then select your QR code. It doesn?t matter if you cropped out the QR code from the rest of the image. In fact, I advise against cropping out the QR code, because you might be cropping parts of it out that will make the ?QR-image? unreadable.
Next, you will see the creator and town name appear along with their ?ID codes?. Click on ?Copy Creator? button. This saves BOTH the ?Creator? and ?Town? IDs that are unique to you. DON?T TRY WRITING THEM DOWN, it might not work.
After copying, you will see this:
STEP 2: LOAD THE QR-IMAGE OF THE PATTERN YOU WANT TO DISPLAY
I?m going to use THE ROOST CAF? SIGNBOARD that I had been saving up for my sign.
Click on ?Choose File? under ?Load ACNL file or QR-image? again, but this time, select the pattern that you want to place.
Click ?Paste creator (Your Name/Your Town Name)?. You will get something like this:
You are now free to edit the title of the pattern and what not. But try not to fiddle with the creator or town names, because if it?s different from what it is in-game, THE GAME WON?T RECOGNISE IT AS YOURS. And so you can?t display it on your custom signboards and standees (I think, I haven?t tried standees).
Now all that?s left to do is..
STEP 3: SCAN IN THE QR CODE
Notice how there?s a big ass QR code at the bottom of the webpage? The QR code generated here can be scanned into your ACNL game.
It probably uses javascript or some other advanced html doohickery, so if you can?t get it to work on your ancient browser like IE, I highly recommend using Google Chrome. At least, it works for me..
Just talk to Sable to activate the in-game camera, position your 3DS in-front of your computer screen? and voila! All done!
Look Ma! THE ROOST FURNITURE CAPPUCCINO?! Only 499 BELLS!
P.S. Please do not take advantage of this method to steal the original designs of hard-working and creative designers and credit/post them as your own! Remember to disable sharing of patterns for your town?s dream if you have public works with patterns that you?ve edited to ?become yours?.