faireygodmother -- I am not quite sure what you mean without actually looking at your album, but to try to sum it up for you... what CJs *usually* consist of is like this:
I pick a theme -- like mine is "character greetings" -- and I do a 2 page layout in my book based on our meet-n-greet with Mickey Mouse.
Then say, you are the person I mail to next... then YOU would do a 2 page layout in MY book based on a character greeting that YOU had... say Cinderella and your family. Then, you mail to the next person, and she does a 2 page layout based on Pooh and her family, etc.
What YOUR CJ should start with is a question or theme... so if your theme is Land and Sea, each person that does a layout in your book is going to design a theme around their own personal experiences with Land/Sea.
It sounds as if your interpretation of a CJ is that each person designs pages for you.... that's a great idea for a page swap but not exactly how the traditional CJ works. What we actually do is a share a little bit of ourselves that is forever left in someone else's book. It's a good way to get to know each other, and to do something creatively that you might not think about doing otherwise.
As far as a the 8 1/2 x 11 size, depending on where you're mailing to, that would add probably at least $2-$4 per month to the person mailing it. It is awfully nice of you to compensate for it, but realize you would be doing that times 11. Perhaps, if you had a different idea of what the CJ would be like, you might want to save your 8 1/2 x 11 book for yourself and start a smaller one for the circle journal.
Well, it's late here but I am on the West coast which is why I'm answering this first, but I'm sure the other ladies have feedback as well. I am in CJ II anyway, so take my feedback with a grain of salt -- it should be up to the ladies in your circle how you guys should proceed. In any case, I am looking forward to seeing yours and everyone else's work so I hope you all post it as you go along