Background Images for Table Cell´s in Outlook 2003

Hi,
I have been trying to develop a Stationery template for Outlook 2003 in
html. The template I develop has background images in each table cells. When
I open it with Internet Explorer I can see the template correctly.
However when I chose it as an stationery template, I can´t see any of the
images. If I include those images as images (I mean with img html tag instead
of background property) I can see the pictures, however I cannot write above
it.

Does Outlook 2003 support including background images in the table cells?

If it does not, is there a way to workaround this?

Thanks in advace!.