Tuesday, my sweet Joey Wayne will be 6.

He was born on an election day:  Bush def. Kerry 2004.   I was trying to get one of the nurses to go get me a ballot, but for some reason, they refused.

Apparently, every 6 years his birthday will fall on election day.  This year, his  Mommy has to be an election judge from 5am – 8pm on his birthday.  Sad.

So we have to do some prep.

1.  We gotta bake a cake.  Joey wants a Ben 10 Alien Cake.  His mother has to Google.

2.  We gotta prep some chicken.  Joey wants chicken for his special supper on Monday night.  I passed this task to Grandma and Grandaddy.

3.  We gotta make cookies for school.  Oh, crap.

Here’s how the conversation went:

Mommy:  What do you want to take to school for your birthday snack?

Joey:  Cupcake cookies.

Mommy:   Uh…cupcakes?  or cookies…like Ben 10 cookies?

Joey:  Cupcake cookies, Mommy.

Mommy:  You mean cupcakes shaped cookies?

Joey:  Yeah, Mommy…that’s what I said!

Mommy:  Got it.

So honestly, I was expecting to have to recreate some copyrighted Ben 10 Alien logo for cookies, so this one threw me.

And I realized:  Crap.  I don’t have a cupcake cookie cutter.

The closest Michaels/Hobby Lobby/Crafty Store is in another state.

Can I make my own cookie cutter?

Well, duh.  Google it.   Of course you can.

First, I found an easy shape for a cupcake.

Then, I had my husband save his pop can from lunch.  (Rinsed thoroughly)

Fair warning:  This is not a project for kids.  Super sharp edges, pointed shards of aluminum…not a ‘family-friendly’ project.  Super-sharp edges everywhere.  Did I mention the edges are sharp?

I cut off the top and bottom…

And spilled water all over the work surface.

I made a 1 inch cut in the side…

And cut all the way around, making a strip.

Repeated with the remainder of the can.

I got three strips, but only used two.

The strips are naturally curved (obvi), which is good for this application…

I pinched the edges to get that little hang-over part of the “frosting”…

I got another strip for the “cake” part.

I put the ends together…

Then made two pinches…These are the bottom corners of the “cake”.

Next, I joined the “cake” to the “frosting at the edges.

I just used tape.  I may regret that later…after I’ve cut out a few.  But it appears to be holding.

So here it is…it looks like a freakin’ mushroom…

I messed with the curve on the top and got it to this point…

Which is better, but looks like a sad piece of bread…

One more time…

Okay, this is do-able.

So, it’s not perfect.  But it’s going to look great when I get the pretty icing on it.

And, even better, it saved me a mad trip across the state line for a 1.50 cookie cutter that they may or may not have had in stock.

What’s that?  You’d like to see them finished?

Well….okay.  Tomorrow I’ll bake them and show ya how they turn out.

Sound good?