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GREEN VALLEY, Ariz.- When Susan Watson's mother died last June, she wanted a special way to remember her.

"My mom was a lot of fun," Watson says. "She enjoyed life and she enjoyed her family."

Watson says her mother also enjoyed jewelry. And that gave Watson an idea.

She turned to Green Valley resident Karen Siggel. Siggel owns a company called "Glass Fire Designs", which sells jewelry she makes out of dichroic glass.

A few years ago, Siggel got an odd request. "I thought they were kidding me," Siggel says.

Two sisters approached her at an art show, asking if Siggel would make them a piece of jewelry out of their mothers' ashes. "It was never something I thought of doing and at first I thought it was kind of gross," Siggel says.

But it turns out the "memorial pendants" are quite popular. Over the years Siggel has made a couple dozen.

It takes her about three weeks to craft a pendant. They come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors. "They're all treated very respectful," Siggel says.

Watson now wears a purple and green pendant Siggel made using her mother's ashes. "It's very special to me," Watson says. "I always feel like my mother's with me, but wearing the ashes just makes me feel even closer to her."

Siggel also makes the "memorial pendants" using the ashes of pets.

For more information you can email her at: info@glassfiredesigns.com

You can also visit the "Glass Fire Designs" website at www.glassfiredesigns.com