Getting unstuck

I don't scrapbook chronologically but I keep my photos in folders with the year written on the front. I only have 6 photos left in the 2010 folder and so I decided I wanted to make an effort to get them all scrapped. I had these two photos of the girls on the beach and I know my husband loves these pictures so I wanted them in my album. They were taken on quite grey day (no surprise for our summer holidays) and so I had struggled to scrap them in the past.

I started off with a piece of cardstock where I had been experimenting with oil pastels, mists and embossing folder ( like this previous page) and added some lines drawn with the tube inside some mists. I chose colours that matched the colourful cardigan in the photo. I stuck down some washi tape and then I got stuck.

Do you ever get part way through a page and think  "I don't like this" or "I can't see where this is going"? This is how I felt at this point. So I went back to my first love - pattern. I dug out some patterned papers and placed the layout on the top to see what happened.

First this one...

...then this one...

...and finally this one.

I went for the middle one which seemed to bring the layout to life, even though it is only a small border on the finished page. I was particularly pleased to use this paper up as I've had it for ages (on the back it says 2004). Once I had added the patterned paper I felt able to move forward  - I was unstuck!

I added these black words cut from a die-cut cardstock sheet.

Here's a close look at the embossing folder resist bit.

Do you have a technique for getting unstuck?