help me fix this........

[IALuder]

ok i really need some help with drywall patching...
ive tried lookin online but the stuff there makes no sense to me :P
anyways this is my situation:
ive got a hole in the wall about the size of lets say a... fist
i put a mesh over it, bought spackling paste (thats what the guy at home depot told me to get), and a "knife"
so im trying to put this stuff over the mesh but it looks horrible... like around the hole the stuff keeps going through and not sticking so u can still see the holes of the mesh. i know im supposed to apply, and then use a drywall sponge to file... but the layer i applied looks so thin that im scared if i file ill be back to where i was an hour ago...

anybody know how to fix this properly??? cause im about to take a sheet of paper and tape it on, then paint over it (which i doubt will work well)