This is often a question I ask myself. I think that by definition, a truly great artist knows when they’ve gone overboard. They just stepped over the line between "insightful" and gone directly to "distasteful". Lately I’ve been getting "caught up" in the "more is better" attitude of scrapbooking. I find my layouts are cluttered and heavy. Too many bits and pieces. More squiggles, more layers, more embellishments, more everything! I’m trying to put an entire lifetime onto one layout. It’s time to STOP THE MADNESS! Give the eyes a break. Leave some empty space. Not every inch of that layout needs to have something in it. Now I am trying to think each time that I place an item on the page… what is this doing there? Is it adding to the message I am trying to communicate? Or is it simply filling up space? Look at your layout quickly, turn away and look again. Squint. It’ll help you decide if you eyes are drawn to the focal point you have created, or if your eyes are simply wandering throughout the page, lost in the tangle of doodads and stuff that has been added. If so, take some of it off. Your layout will be focused and articulate. When I saw this layout created with the PDQ Tailored paper by Wendy Smedley 
it made me think of just how great that type of a layout can be.
