featured image plus sign on hover

hello. I am trying to get rid of or change the plus sign when I hover on a featured image. I love the fade effect. I put this code in that I found elsewhere.

.item-overlay-text { display: none !important }

this got rid of the plus sign. it also got rid of the fade effect. is there a way to change the plus sign to other text? or get rid of it but keep the fade effect? our website is…
yourliferocks.com

thanks in advance.