Mini ring binders

"How about the miniature laptop, tablet, and cell phone, and maybe the books? Look at this desk, G. will make one like it." "Great idea! I could try to make a waste paper basket. And how about ring binders instead of books? I'll see if I can find something online."
This very shortened talk between my friend and me was about a gift that our department wants to give to a dear colleague who is leaving us. She works in IT and, inspired by a lantern with a fairy door and some accessories in it, my friend had the idea to put together a little office into a lantern.

So we all went to work, my friend went to get the lantern and some felt to match the carpeting at work, her husband made the desk, and I looked for ring binders.
The basket was first, though. I used brown wire, crocheted a disk for the bottom to make it sturdy and knitted the rest, so you can see what's in the basket, for example tiny paper balls and crumpled tissues, but that's for when it all gets put together.
I did find some ring binders online, but thought that I could probably make those myself. Spoiler alert, I could and only glued myself to one once!

My friend scanned a real ring binder and I printed the scan on labels. I stuck them on folded cardboard cut to a little less than one inch high, added handmade labels with keywords to the spines, and poked holes into them.
Unfortunately all of my jumprings were too big for the slits on the lids (that are hard to see on the lying binder), but after filling the binders with cardboard fanfolds - cardboard to give them some more weight, fanfolds because it was easier to glue those in - there wouldn't have been much space for rings, anyway. I think you get the idea.
The nice part was that I didn't even have to be too careful because the binders were supposed to have that look of having been used for a long time, just like some of our real binders at work.

Once everything is ready and put together, I will share a picture of that as well.
I hope our colleague will like it!