Joey those clips sound nice and John I like the 45º tip too. I've
always done this with the front and back thin stick method or sometimes
if the hole is small I twist drywall screws in the cut to jam the piece
in. I find that the trick is to bevel the edges of the cut to get rid
of the furry cut edges of drywall paper. Then the compound can be
smoothed easier and the job's often done in 2 or 3 passes. It's always
a good idea to save those pieces. Making up new ones of the right
thickness and shape can be a pain.
Richar