cuz I'm always looking for ways to make my maintenance expenses lower or in some situations, satisfy my laziness.
Get some gasket material from Ace Hardware. Use RTV sealant to "glue" it to your valve cover. While holding it down, cut out the perimeter with an Xacto knife. Turn it over and carefully cut out the inside with an Xacto knife. Put Hylomar on the gasket surface and put it on your bike. Can't be more than a couple bucks for the gasket material. I reuse the valve cover gaskets on my '94 SS by using Hylomar rather than some hardening gasket sealant. I just did the 4th shim change and I think I've only ever changed 2 gaskets.
An alternative is to put grease on your valve cover and press it to the gasket material. Then cut away anything that doesn't have grease on it.
There's another way using a ball peen hammer, but if I post it, someone will bang up a perfectly good valve cover and blame me for it.