re: advice please

When I was s younger i made a recipe box for my wife it was in the form of an old style roll top desk for 3″ × 5 " recipe cards .
I used a piece of sticky back craft material like you would use to line a jewelry box, craft stores these in many colors , a 9"x 12 cost about 40 or 50 cents then this was about 35 years ago and it still works like new today .
i laid out the slats ,good side down, and pealed off the backing and applied the sticky side to the slats