This is a table within a table otherwise known as "nested" tables. I have put a background image in the outer table. You can nest as many tables as you like but be careful to close all of the tags or things will go haywire.

Here is the html that I used to create this table:

<table align="center" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20" border="3" bgcolor="#E6ECF5" background="image_URL">
  <tr>
    <td>

      <table align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" border="3" bgcolor="#E6ECF5">
        <tr>
          <td>
            <p>Text goes here.</p>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>

    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

Note that the inner table is nested inside the <td> tags of the outer table just like text would be.