At first I thought this was another Lifegem story. But in fact, it isn’t. An Iowa woman wanted to commemorate her pet.

“I thought it would have been nice to do something with the ashes,” she said.

A jewelry designer, Engel took to the computer and researched memorial and cremation jewelry. But she wasn’t satisfied with the somber pieces she found, so she decided to make her own line, and Love Ashes was formed.

Engel established Mi Tierra designs 2 1/2 years ago, originally as an import business, but she has since expanded into making her own glass jewelry. As a native of Veracruz, Mexico, who moved to the Midwest to be with her husband and raise their three chiddren, Engel wanted a way to share her culture with her new neighbors, she said.

In her studio, in the back of a showroom under the insurance company office her husband runs, Engel crafts her Love Ashes pieces — custom pendants that she hangs from ribbons and glass tiles she frames for customers.