Caren Watkins, former editor-in-chief of the recently shuttered Gardening Life magazine, has returned to her designer roots, taking a  creative director position at Mississauga-based Robert Kennedy Publishing.  Watkins began her new job, where she’s responsible for overseeing art direction of the company’s lifestyle publications, including Oxygen and Clean Eating, on Monday of last week.

Prior to taking the EIC job with Gardening Life in May 2006, Watkins worked for nearly 11 years as art director of Chatelaine. She has also done design work for EnRoute, Masthead, Toronto Life, National Ballet School, Toronto Symphony, StepText (an alternative dance tabloid) and James Ireland Design.

Her time with Gardening Life came to abrupt end in November of last year, when parent company St. Joseph Media closed the magazine.