Ah, so proud to see this, you are pushing yourself outside your limits! Although you may not be in love with her now, if you keep her in a safe place for a while, you may change your opinion later on down the line. Keep experimenting and having fun, that's what it's all about, improvement will happen naturally in time ☺

For crayons, I find mixed media paper works well because it has a little bit of tooth that takes layers well. I also like it because it takes ink an pencil well too :D Plus it's affordable on amazon (or purse.io) and good for daily sketching. Here's the cover:

I've not used pastels with this paper, so I can't speak from experience. I feel it may work well for your needs. Take care!