FORT SILL, Okla. (Dec. 17, 2015) -- A small 19-by-19 foot store (about the size of a living room) called MEW&Co., sits on the main drag of Medicine Park, across from the town's performance stage.

Mary Wunderlich, an Army spouse, opened the store in June, selling her own handmade stationery and also purses, jewelry, photography, toys and more hand crafted from friends, family and other Army spouses.

"I always wanted to have a store, but I did not know that it was going to be like this, that's for sure," she said. "I'm very East-Coast style and in Oklahoma there are people from all around. They like this style and it's really great."

She began the dream years ago when as a child she would sell her drawings to family members for 10 cents. Wunderlich and her husband, Alexander, were living in Hagerstown, Md., with her working at FedEx and her husband working at a restaurant. She was selling her cards wholesale to a local store but wanted more.

"I wanted to get a really old brick-and-mortar shop downtown in more of an urban area," said Wunderlich. 'They had this great downtown, but it's really dying so we decided not to."

As the couple debated their future plans they decided to move to Austin, Texas, for its thriving art and music scene. They dropped everything, sold everything and moved to Texas in June 2013. They each got a job, however were not making large strides in achieving their dream. During their son's second birthday they realized they couldn't stay in their current financial position.

"I thought, 'OK, I really want to pursue this. What do we need to do?'" she said. "It was kind of that point where we are really happy and this is funny that Calvin is so unaware of everything right now, but if he gets older and we continue like this, he's going to realize that we are really poor and I don't want that."

In October of 2013, Alexander joined the Army. While he attended basic training and advanced individual training, Wunderlich returned back to the East Coast where she was able to focus on her stationary and invitations. She said during this time she honed her skills and developed her confidence in herself and her work. Her clientele expanded through word of mouth and as she produced work, they returned to make new purchases.

But soon she would have to move again. The couple arrived to Fort Sill in February 2014 and Wunderlich, like many spouses, was underwhelmed with their first duty station and their new home.

"I wasn't thrilled because it wasn't anything like we were used to," she said. "We were just in Austin, which is beautiful and urban and I loved that thing. I was not a fan of it here."

The couple ventured to nearby Medicine Park, Okla., to see a band play and "fell in love" with the community, she said. Alexander considered creating a recording studio in one of the available shops and Wunderlich joined him in conversations with landlords.

"It wasn't in my mind to open a store. They told us how much rent was and that's when it clicked. I could open a store. I could do this."

The pieces fell into place. A storefront right on the main road opened up and Wunderlich took the chance to do what she'd been trying to do for years. The building was formerly an indoor eating area with mustard yellow walls inside and out, a red door and fluorescent lights. A few days of manual labor, paint buckets and some "East-Coast style" transformed Wunderlich's dream into reality.

The very first day of the store's opening Wunderlich earned enough money to cover her first month's rent. She sold items made from family and a few friends from Arizona, Washington, D.C. and Oklahoma City. Her success only fueled the desire to help others and she said she began to thinking, "here are these people and this is what we can do. Who else do we need to get in here?"

"I wanted to have a completely hand-made store," she said. "I thought 'well, how am I going to get there? I can't do it so who can I help?"

Wunderlich thought about her sister who is a stay-at-home mom and who was selling items in the new store, and then about other stay-at-home moms who may need help in boosting their confidence.

"I can help (stay-at-home moms)," she said. I can give (them) that confidence and show them off for them."

With that Wunderlich began to involve military wives with a knack for crafting. One of the spouses sells jewelry in the store and is almost always at the top of the list in terms of who earned the most profit each month she said.

"That's so cool to be able to do that for people," Wunderlich said. "You're not only providing them with a little bit extra fun money, but you're giving them that confidence that I'd always strived for. You carry yourself differently when you're confident. You treat people differently when you're confident. Your entire outlook on life can change. I don't mean confident as in stuck up, but confident in knowing your value and being valued and feeling like you have something to give."

Wunderlich plans on adding small furniture pieces to her store and is excited about the possibility of expanding to other locations. Still she says she loves her small little store and is amazed at how well it has done.

"It's so humbling that people are choosing these things over everyone else -- the mall, big stores, Target, you can get really trendy cool-looking things for half the price of a lot of the stuff that's in here," she said "But people are buying it because they like us, they're believe in what we're doing and the item. This is quality, we're supporting this person and that is huge."