8×8 or 12×12? A scrapbook dilemma

I’ve been working on creating my hand-drawn embellishments for my Valentine album, but I’ve been stumped by my indecision between creating 8×8 or 12×12 layouts.  My preference is really for the bigger 12×12 pages (making for 12×24 2-page layouts), but the protective sleeves are costly.  In contrast, the 8x8s will fit easily into 8 1/2 x 11 inch sleeve protectors that I can trim to the right size, and which are easily available at much cheaper prices.  After much thought, I’ve decided I will continue to create 12×12 layouts.  I’ll worry about the protective sleeves later.  It’s not even so much the cost but the consistency of the size and make of the sheets themselves  I still have part of my New England and Brussels 2007 layouts that need to be put into albums, so I figure I’ll get to that first and get the albums together.

I have been “sketching the layouts in my head” and I really should start creating the pages soon before I lose my train of thought so to speak.  Sometimes something as basic as the page layout size can really stump you.  I don’t have all that many pictures for this particular set so I am confident I can get it done in a timely fashion.  (Wish me luck!)

The layout above was created by cutting a heart out of a paint paper swatch, and “dilemma” was written on chipboard taken from a food tray from the cafeteria.  I’m trying to experiment with using actual scraps instead of readily available scrapbook embellishments which can be bought from craft and general stores.  It’s all in my head and will hopefully be on paper soon enough.