The Artful Bag Challenge - Month #3 - March

For the third month of The Artful Bag Challenge, we have been challenged to take an existing handbag and re-decorate, or re-make it.  I found this lovely handbag at my local thrift store for about $1.30:

It is made from a burlap-like material with nice leather straps.  The top has a zipper and the bottom has a large gusset that makes it very roomy.  It would be very suitable to carry books.  The one thing that would stop me from using it myself is that the beautifully-embroidered initials (JES) are not my initials - although the "J" certainly works.  Here's what I did:

I used homemade fabric flowers and paper flowers with die cuts and leather-like leaves to cover the second and third initial.  BUT - I left the letter "J".