Hey Irene,
first of all, thank you for the purchase!
I will answer your questions in the same order:
1). Ikebana uses a separate post type called “portfolio project” (“Portfolio -> Add New” and “Portfolio -> Portfolio” in the admin menu); when you have one or more portfolio projects, they can be displayed in the tiled layout on a portfolio page, which is a classical WordPress page with “Portfolio” template selected for it. If you have individual projects are pages, you will need to move their content into projects in order to display them on Ikebana’s portfolio grid.
2). In order to set up the portfolio on the front page, please create a portfolio page (see theme manual pages 4-6 on how to do that) and then go to “Settings -> Reading” admin menu and select that page from the “Front Page” drop-down list in the “Front page displays” section (a standard WordPress procedure for creating a static front page).
3). In general, a “masonry” layout is any layout that has elements of various dimensions arrange without leaving empty spaces in-between; Ikebana’s design concept is highly geometrical and is inspired in part by the Microsoft’s Metro interface, which is why the individual portfolio elements can only be square (nevertheless, there are two sizes – “standard” and double that in size; you can also set any figure for the dimensions of the boxes from the Theme Options panel, “Portfolio Page” tab). It is also worth noting that the images you add can be of any configuration – they will be automatically cropped into squares for the portfolio maintaining maximum surface of the image; on individual project pages, the images will display in their original proportions.
Should you have more questions, do not hesitate to contact me!
Sincerely,
Andrew / Satori Studio