Starts with a simple 3x3 table. Merged the cells in the top and bottom rows. Then zero out the padding, spacing and borders.  
 

 

 

Dragged a series of graphics created using slices in photoshop into the thin cells surrounding the outside of this cell. This table has too much text in it, so gaps are appearing on the left and right sides. The next step addressed how to accomidate for this using background images instead of putting the images directly into the table cells.

 

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  This table is changed only in that the two side images have been replaced with background images in the same place. So those two cells have special ID's that tell them to use the side graphics and also to repeat them along the Y axis. This was done using CSS. This way no matter how much content is added to the box, the box can expand without the illusion of the drop shadow and beveled look.  
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  Consider a table like this, starting with a 4x4 grid. This table can expand both horizontally and vertically if needed using repeating background in the sides as well as the top and bottom. This table has no graphics for it yet. I would have to reslice the graphics to make them form to this corner based table.  
     
Of course you could always use a division, and plop a JPG or PNG as a background. Or put a table in the <div>. With CSS we can make that division float anywhere we'd like it to. Relatively or Absolutely.