Using dramatic patterned paper

Most of the patterned paper I own is pretty nondescript--muted patterns, even in design. Sometimes, though, I get a piece of paper with a big, dramatic pattern on it. How to use that type of paper?

I thought of this when I got a cityscape paper with a large yellow three in a kit last fall. I liked the city and thought I'd cover the three, but then I decided to use it on a page about the Turkey Day 5K I ran with my two boys. The three seemed important for the theme, so I let it stand out in the front.

To keep the page from getting too dark with the city in the background, I took another dramatic piece of paper, the happy clouds with words. Neither piece is meant to be covered up, so I left a lot of white space to let the paper shine. Here's the page:

In essence, if you have dramatic paper, don't use it in layers; instead, use fewer photos to let the patterned paper stand out. Here are some detail shots:

You can see I trimmed some of the clouds out of the paper with my Exacto knife to sort of hug the photo.

You can see that I sewed down the journaling strips just for some extra reinforcement.

Thank you for checking out my page! I hope it gives you some ideas for using those big patterns in your stash.