How deep is the substrate? Just thinning it out should solve the problem. You can also mix in dry with the stuff that's already wet at about a 50/50 ratio. Or use the paper as the base substrate and just sprinkle enough of the wet substrate to keep the humidity bumped.
Yes. What I usually do is soak 2 bricks all day (or overnight), spread out the resulting 'mulch' in the terrarium and then mix in a third, dry brick in and around the areas where the hides will be placed.